They're good business people. They're not going to throw money down the drain. So they see this as an investment. The System Someone like me, in a very marginal seat, begins thinking about reelection a day or so after he is sworn in for a new term - if he wants to get reelected. That's exactly the way it works.
Nobody ever admits it, nobody ever acknowledges it.
Everybody does it. It isn't the way the political system ought to work. It isn't the way democracy ought to work. If nobody else cares about it very much, the special interest will get its way. If the public understands the issue at any level, then the special-interest groups are not able to buy an outcome that the public may not want.