NEIL CAVUTO (HOST): Whether you're in Iowa or New Hampshire, anywhere, and you are in the TV business or just booking ad time, you are making a mint. In fact, 12,900 TV ads to be exact during the 2016 cycle, I ask you, political science professor Dr. Steffen Schmidt - Well doctor, we now have a whole new series of ads to get into, from largely outside groups that ostensibly support various candidates without the candidates fingerprint on them. But they've obviously been swaying sentiment here, and a lot more to come.
STEFFEN SCHMIDT (GUEST): Oh yes, it's a cornucopia this year you know. Buy stock in television stations, because the money is flowing like honey Neil.
CAVUTO: Alright, so who is the beneficiary -- who is spending the most? I know it's an inexact science because these PACs are broken down to quasi-allegiances to candidates, the candidates themselves disavow what they're doing, but they don't argue with what they're doing. How can you break it down?
SCHMIDT: It looks like the biggest spender so far on media, at least in the Des Moines market which is the biggest in the state, is Marco Rubio. And the second is Jeb Bush. So if you want to connect money spent on TV ads with where you are in the polls, it's not working out, because they certainly are not one and two. And Donald Trump is I think sixth or seventh in terms of how much money he has spent, of course he gets the free media.
CAVUTO: Yeah he does get that, doesn't he? Let me ask you though doc. When I look at that, and a lot of people say Donald Trump has a lot of money, of course he does. We can debate how many billions, but he's a billionaire. And he's holding back, to your point maybe because he doesn't have to. At what point do you think he has to?
SCHMIDT: You know, there are two roads to coming in first or second, which is all you need to do, or third even in the caucuses. And one road is to go door to door and bang on people's doors and shake hands with them and stuff. The other I guess is spending a lot of money, and you know Donald Trump is doing it in an air war. I think you know, he's coming to big rallies and that's certainly getting him fabulous free media. I mean, Donald Trump is really first in terms of how much money in kind has been spent on television. There's nobody -- nobody has spent as much money as Donald Trump has gotten in free media.
CAVUTO: Amazing.
