You need to know this…The 2014 midterm elections are officially the most expensive midterm elections in American history. According to the Center for Responsive Politics around $3.67 billion will be spent this election cycle - beating out the previous record of $3.63 billion spent in the 2010 midterms.

To put that number in perspective, CNN estimates that if all the money spent on the midterms was spent on something else - it would be enough to build and operate 100 Ebola treatment centers in Africa.

It would also be enough to fund the K through 12 education of 12,000 American kids - or enough to buy 25 fighter F-18 fighter jets to help in the fight against ISIS. If it wasn’t already obvious before - it should be now.

We have the best democracy money can buy - and if there’s one story about this election cycle that everyone should be talking about - it’s that. Yes - the possibility of a Republican takeover of the Senate gets all the headlines - but the fact that billionaires like the Koch Brothers can now throw money at whatever race they want without any checks on their spending whatsoever is even more important - especially when you look at the big picture of what’s really going on here.

What we’re seeing with all the record-breaking spending in this year’s midterms isn’t an accident - it’s the perfection of the brave new world of money in politics.

The Supreme Court opened the floodgates four years ago with Citizens United - and then it opened them a bit a more with its McCutcheon decision earlier this year. This gave the right-wing money machine power like it never had before - and now - in 2014 - that machine has fine-tuned its strategy - creating a monster.

Read more here.

-Thom

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Midterms 2014 - Special Election Night Special Coverage (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Be sure to check out our new videos: CARBON, LAST HOURS & GREEN WORLD RISING - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio

Need to Know: Big Picture on nationwide races & issues
- Reporters Alexey Yaroshevsky, Lindsay France, Manuel Rapalo and Ameera David, RT America

Screwed: Money in Politics
- Ian Vandewalker, Brennan Center for Justice

Plus, the latest on marijuana legalization
- Gabriel Sayegh, Drug Policy Alliance

Election spending and the economy
- Dr. Richard Wolff, Economist / Democracy At Work

Plus, Third party candidates / legalizing pot
- Jesse Ventura, former Governor of Minnesota

Free excerpt, read book for free at Truthout, buy the book!

Tuesday's Daily Stack

Quote: "Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Article: "Jim Crow Returns" by Greg Palast.

Article: "42 rich white people account for 1/3 of Super PAC spending" by Cory Doctorow.

Article: "Aasif Mandvi On Life As A 'No Land's Man' And Impressing Jon Stewart".

Fox So-called News Alert: "Tucker Carlson: “We need an ‘older white guy’ appreciation day”" by Jenny Kutner.

Article: "Obama Commerce chief hasn’t found one executive who opposes wage hike" by Julian Hattem.

Article: "The Truth About Over-the-Counter Access to Birth Control" by Planned Parenthood.

Article: "Colorado Voters Cite Immigration As A Hot Button Issue" by NPR.

Article: "Politics In Colorado Shift With Demographics" by NPR.

Article: "NPR Updates Ethics Code; Allows Mara Liasson To Continue Fox News Association" by Eric Boehlert.

Article: "Ahead of presumed mid-term victory Republican Party bares its fangs" by Nick O'Malley.

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Luke Vargas reporting on the election from New Hampshire

Article: "Christie: New England Races Will Surprise on Election Night" by Paayal ZaverI and Luke Vargas.

Article: "Holder sends poll watchers to 18 states" by Ben Kamisar.

Hour Two: Chasing dark money
- Brendan Fischer, Center for Media and Democracy (CMD)

Article: "Koch-Tied Group Urges Stoners Not to Vote for Mary Burke" by Brendan Fischer.

Article: "CMD Files IRS Complaint Against Wisconsin Club for Growth" by Brendan Fischer.

Article: "CMD Asks for Federal Criminal Investigation of Wisconsin Club for Growth" by PrWatch.

Article: "40kg Of Cocaine Found On Mitch McConnell’s Father-In-Law’s Boat" by Nathaniel Downes.

Article: "Did Mitch McConnell Fail to Disclose His Trip to the Koch Donor Conference?" by Lauren Windsor.

Speech: "A Rendezvous With Destiny", 27 June 1936 acceptance speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt. "An old English judge once said: "Necessitous men are not free men.""

Crazy Alert: "Man dressed as Fox News reporter attacked on Halloween" by CBS.

Article: "New Mexico Land Grant Fund Investments, Amendment 5 (2014)" by Ballotpedia.

Site: PollVault.

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Victoria Jones

Article: "Montgomery County Election Day Information" by Bethesda.

Article: "Clyburn: Some Dems ‘Suffered’ Due to Handling Race Issues Poorly" by Josh Feldman.

Article: "Ralph Nader calls on Pelosi to quit: ‘Three strikes and you’re out’" by Cheryl K. Chumley.

Case: "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission" (2010).

Law: "McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission", 2014.

Article: "Taxes, marijuana top issues on Facebook ahead of midterms" by Mario Trujillo.

Article: "Reince Priebus: GOP win, Obama signs XL" by Jonathan Topaz.

Article: "Health chief 'eager' to expand ObamaCare with new governors" by Elise Viebeck.

Article: "Harvard Study: States' Medicaid expansion refusal will kill thousands" by Joan McCarter, Jan 31, 2014.

Article: ""Republicans kill people so we HAVE to Vote!" (My brilliant 7 yr old daughter!)" by IdaBriggs.

Article: "Kerry vows to press China on hacking" by Cory Bennett.

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman.

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 11/4" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 11/3" by Victoria Jones.

Hour Three: How Mitch McConnell Is Bending Every Last Campaign Finance Rule
- Lee Fang, The Nation & Republic Report

Article: "How Mitch McConnell Is Bending Every Last Campaign Finance Rule" by Lee Fang.

Article: "Dark money still a Republican game" by Peter Olsen-Phillips.

Article: "Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement" by EFF.

Protecting your vote
- Chris Melody Fields, Election Protection

Clip: "Paul Weyrich - "I don't want everybody to vote" (Goo Goo)".

Article: "Rigell: Voting problems now reported at 43 precincts" by 13News Now.

Article: "€54m voting machines scrapped for €9 each" by Paul Melia and Luke Byrne.

Article: "Oil hits 4-year low after Saudi discount" by Neil Hume.

Article: "Arizona Rejection of Unconstitutional Federal Actions Amendment, Proposition 122 (2014)" by Ballotpedia.

Bible: "Ephesians 5:22-24: Wives and Husbands" Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord...

Bible: "1 Corinthians 11:3-9" ...But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head....

Site: MoveOn.org

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Justin Duckham covering the election live from Kentucky

Article: "Two million barrels of oil on ocean floor after BP spill" by Kerry Sheridan.

Article: "‘God is not a magician’: Pope says Christians should believe in evolution and Big Bang" by Travis Gettys.

Article: "Three Airlines In Australia Just Inadvertently Demonstrated That Carbon Taxes Work" by Jeff Spross.

Article: "10 Arrested as Human Blockade Continues Protesting Methane Gas Storage Facility" by Stefanie Spear.

Article: "Reversing Course on Beavers" by Jim Robbins.

Wednesday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET

We'll be catching up on the results so far of the elections, and discussing what they will mean.

Plus, author Dan Sisson, returns for Thom Hartmann University Book Club - The American Revolution of 1800 - Chapter 2.

And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"

And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...

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Full Show 11/3/14: Republicans Don’t Want You to Vote

In tonight's midterm election special Thom talks tomorrow’s Congressional and Gubernatorial races and the 146 ballot measures Americans will be voting on with Progressive Christy Setzer and Conservatives Neil McCabe and Tyler Harber.

Is Mitch McConnell breaking election laws?

Fighting the Dark Money of politics

Protect your vote!

Thom Hartmann on Science and Green News - November 4, 20134

What happens if the GOP takes the Senate?

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