» Ronniesia Reed
–rreed24@my.apsu.edu
CHRISTY WALKER | DESIGNER
The 2012 presidential campaign season has been the most expensive to date. With hundreds of millions of dollars being spent, you have to wonder if all of this spending is really necessary.
With all of the poverty and financial problems in America, most Americans could be spending this wasted campaign money on fixing the problems instead of paying for TV commercials or ad spots.
So far, the Democratic Party and President Barack Obama’s campaign have raised and spent more than the Republican Party and former Governor Mitt Romney’s campaign.
There are also political organizations and political action committees (Super PACs) that fundraise for the candidates.
Super PACs were recently created by a Supreme Court ruling, which allows them to raise and spend infinite amounts of donations by undisclosed donors.
Last month, President Obama raised $35 million through fundraising, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Altogether, the Obama campaign has raised almost $400 million in the campaign leading up to the 2012 elections. The Romney campaign has raised over $200 million so far this election cycle.
According to the Federal Election Commission most of the Obama campaign’s donations have been under $200 while most of Romney’s campaign donations have been larger donations of over $2,000 or more.
Priorities USA, Democratic Super PAC, has raised $25.5 million to help re-elect Obama, according to The New York Times.
Americans for Prosperity, conservative Super PAC, has raised $30.8 million to elect Romney. These are just a few of the organizations and Super PACS piling money into these campaigns.
Super PACs play a huge role in the presidential campaign because they are where most of the funds come from. Most Super PAC contributors are wealthy donors who can donate millions to campaigns without publically disclosing their donations.
There should be groups like Super PACs for the people in need. Hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on campaigns is just ridiculous. That money should be spent helping people who have lost everything due to natural disasters, the economy or the people who are sick and dying and have no way to pay their medical bills.
What happens when Obama or Romney loses the election? One of them will. All of these donations could have gone toward scholarships or students loans. Campaign funds could help pay down our nation’s debt or help those in need, instead, it goes to political campaigns.
Most of the money in the campaign is going toward television advertisements. Focus is being put on some states more than others. Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Florida are the targeted states.
“The fact that people are being bombarded with ads in these states and the numbers aren’t moving means the voters are very set,” New York political ad buyer Joseph Mercurio told FoxNews.
Nearly $350 million has been spent in these states so far, yet there are no changes in people’s opinion on who they will vote for in November. The fundraising part of the election has turned into a war between the two political parties.
“We’re being outspent and outraised. It’s everyone to their battle stations, we’ve got to keep the playing field as level as possible,” a participant at the Geneva fundraiser event for President Obama told Reuters.com.
People should be this excited about raising funds for the less fortunate, paying down our debt and educating the youth of America.
This election is a great example of money being spent in the wrong places. Candidates and Super PACs should have a limit on how much they can spend on their campaigns.
Those limits should be nowhere close to hundreds of millions of dollars. To find out more information on the 2012 election spending, check out the Center for Responsive Politics at opensecrets.org
