joining me robert whisman and david keating of the center for competitive politics. in the opening weeks of the 2016 cycle, david, came the announcement from the koch brothers that they were prepared to spend up to $900 million during the 2016 campaign even. is that a good thing for electoral politics in the united states. >> i think it's a good thing people have more information. if they spend money, it's not just the koch brothers but a bunch of people in the network. they'll be campaigning on the themes, i am sure and part of it will been doorsing a candidate. basically it's a good thing. more speech means the voters will get more information and controversy about the election one thing the political scientists tell us is when voters have more information. they cast more important ballots and turn out at higher rates. all the money in politics basically is helping people pay attention to the important issues of the day. >> you heard keating make a direct link between spending and information. is that a fair point? >> the koch brothers are not spending money for th

phil keating, phil streible, eric marshall, good stuff. thanks very much. liz: saudi arabia's new king salman is snubbing president obama at the camp david summit this week. david: will his absence derail the white house efforts to seal a nuclear deal with iran by the deadline seven weeks from now? joining us kissinger associates vice charm, former undersecretary of state, bob hormats. timing is everything. the secretary of state was just in saudi arabia on thursday. everybody thought we had a deal. the king pulls out. why? >> it is not exactly clear. the saudis sometimes don't tell you exactly what's on their mind but i think we can guess. this would have been his first trip abroad. it was quite clear that the saudis and other gulf arabs were not going to get what they wanted to get out of camp david which was some assurance, some security guaranty, from the united states. david: security for what? that if iran invaded them we would come to saudi arabia's help. >> taking action. not exactly clear what the wording would have been. something to the effect of