To be sure, liberals and conservatives alike are spending money more energetically than ever: "The nonpartisan groups and the 527's alone are spending at least $350 million this year to increase the turnout, which could exceed 121 million. That spending is several times what it was four years ago, when 105 million votes were cast, according to those who are raising the money" (Michael Moss and Ford Fessenden, "Interest Groups Mounting Costly Push to Get Out Vote," <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/20/politics/campaign/20vote.html>). That's nearly $3 per vote. Taking Bush's and Kerry's campaign coffers into account ("PoliticalMoneyLine Guide to Presidential Races," <http://www.fecinfo.com/cgi-win/pml1_sql_PRESIDENTIAL.exe?DoFn=2004>), the liberals' and conservatives' dynamic fund-raising machines are spending $7 per vote. Anthony Corrado, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, is quoted as saying that "we're going to spend somewhere in the area of 1.3 billion dollars, if we include the cost of the (nominating) conventions" (Marty Logan, "Public Interest Groups Pump Up Spending," October 20, 2004, <http://www.ipsnews.net/new_nota.asp?idnews=25937>). The combined total of presidential and congressional candidates' expenditures will likely top $4.6 billion, if the last three presidential election years are any indication ("Campaign Reform: Overview," <http://www.publicagenda.org/issues/overview.cfm?issue_type=campaign_finance>).
Much of that is spent on bombarding voters with disinformation: "Campaign advertising expert Evan Tracey predicts the collective, nationwide price tag of televised political ads will exceed $500 million -- more than double the figure of four years ago. And that's just for the presidential race. . . . Including House and Senate contests, Tracey said, the nationwide political advertising tab this year could approach $1.5 billion" (Greg Gordon, "TV Ads for Presidential Campaigns to Cost $500 Million," Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, October 20, 2004, <http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=CAMPAIGN-ADS-10-20-04&cat=PP>).
The 2004 elections are the most expensive -- and therefore most stupefying -- election in US history. -- Yoshie
* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> * Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/> * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * OSU-GESO: <http://www.osu-geso.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>