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Show Me The Money
March 04, 2007 - 3:12 p.m.

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I read a story this morning in the Toronto Star that reminded me of something that has bothered me for a while.

Did you follow that? I'm not sure I did...let me re-read it.

*Girl From Ipanema plays softly in the background as I read.*

OK, got it.

Anyhow, my issue...what happens to campaign donations when the candidate drops out of the race? Certainly some money is used to close the campaign - paying off various rentals and salaries and whatnot - but some candidates (and I'm looking at you, Tom Vilsack) drop out before they ever really start.

Vilsack left with $1.3 million dollars (and he left because that sort of chump change won't buy the White House these days) long before he had a chance to spend it. So what happens to that money? Does he give it back? Does it go into an "If I Ever Decide To Run Again" fund? What if he never does? What happens to that money when he dies?

The New York Times has an article (to which I won't bother linking, since I think you have to be registered with them in order to read it and if you are you can Google this yourself) about New York State campaign laws and how loose the system is on this very subject. Campaign funds are supposed to be used for campaigns only but there's a lot of fudging done. Apparently some ex-politicos use their war chests to "keep in contact with supporters," which sounds a lot like a vacation and some expensive lunches to me.

Also, how would someone feel about their donation to a presidential campaign being used for an election to some other office? While Vilsack is still young and may very well campaign for something again, do the people who wanted to see him as president really care whether or not he's elected as mayor or alderman or dog catcher? And while $1.3 million may be chump change in the realm of American presidential politics (it's estimated that the successful Republican and Democratic nominees alone will spend a combined $2 billion dollars vying for the Oval Office) there are plenty of candidates who drop out with a lot more money.

At the root of this, of course, is the sinful amount of money our culture spends on this elaborate game. I say sinful because it's a total waste of the resources with which we've been blessed. While people go hungry and our transit systems crumble and arts organizations fold and our educational institutions are underfunded, someone with $1.3 million dollars to spend (more than a year and a half before an election) is considered too poor to remain in the race.

It's a sick, sick system.

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