Does money matter in politics anymore? If you focus on just presidential elections, you might be inclined to say no. At least, that’s the opinion Gabriel Sherman amplifies in New York magazine, pointing to the two—OK, one and a half—post–Citizens United elections and finding Republican mega-donors disappointed by their efforts to use super PACs to buy a president.

The donors spend most of Sherman’s article feeling betrayed by Karl Rove and other consultants, who promised them that their massive contributions would translate into a Mitt Romney victory. But in 2012, the two candidates, their affiliated parties, and super PACs spent virtually the same amount of money; it’s not like Romney supporters overwhelmed the opposition with cash.

The 2016 Republican primary has further stirred this feeling about the utility of political spending. Charting candidate advertising dollars against poll numbers shows almost a negative correlation. Donald Trump hasn’t spent a cent on the air and leads everyone, while Jeb Bush’s $30 million has bought next to nothing in support.

The fact that Trump recently promised a $100 million ad blitz suggests that even he doesn’t think this dynamic will hold. And candidate quality—or lack thereof—matters, as the presumed front-runners six months ago, Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, surely indicate. But it’s a big mistake to equate the presidential election with the whole of politics. Doing so misses the extreme importance of money in the political system.

Because Trump is not the worst businessman in the world, he can figure out that when television networks give him hundreds of millions of dollars in free advertising by hanging on his every word, he might not need to supplement that with anything out of his own pocket. But the importance of free media isn’t limited to the Trump phenomenon. The 2016 presidential race was the most covered political subject in 2015. Debates are drawing ratings rivaled only by football (and that includes Democratic debates, when they are not deliberately hidden from view by the DNC). Likely voters cannot get out of the way of the election if they wanted to. And this will only grow over the next ten months.