Money and Elections

Money and politics go PERFECTLY together. Politics thrives off those who have money. To win an election you are going to need lots and lots of money. Money spent between Obama and Romney differs about 250 million dollars, and it paid off greatly for Obama. Campaign ads, commercials the bash the opponent, and commercials supporting the party beliefs cost tons of money so it is a necessity to have millions of dollars to be able to afford the campaigning.
As we all know, running for president now takes billions upon billions of dollars. If you don’t have a way of raising this kind of money, you’re out of luck. The past two presidential elections have highlighted this fact more than any other before. In regards to Congressional races, I chose to compare the Senate’s majority and minority whips. Dick Durbin, the majority whip, spent about 9 million more than his counterpart, Jon Kyl, in his 2007-2012 campaign cycle. The Republicans were supported the most by banking groups and other financial sectors whereas the Democrats were supported by lawyers and investment firms. I noticed that the democrats raised more then the republicans and the democrats won. Another odd thing I noticed was that California was the top state that money came from for both candidates. Yet it is a solidly blue state. I noticed for the Senators that both Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell raised around the same amount however Harry Reid spent almost all of his 25 million dollar budget while Mitch spent only around 21 million. I also noticed that while the majority of Harry's money was donated from resorts and other businesses while 2 of Mitch's top contributors were medical companies. I believe that while money is necessary to fund a campaign that it inevitably corrupts and that these major companies may have more sway over what the congressman/President does because lets face it without their money the politician would really stand no chance to win.Money and politics will never be separated. I believe that (at least in a Capitalist society such as ours) these two go hand in hand. Political elites typically are labeled as such because they have the money to influence. You may not be able to buy happiness with money, but you sure can buy everything else.