Eugene McCarthy, who is a hero to many on the left, began his campaign for President based on large donations from a very small number of supporters. With that money in hand, he was able to gain some traction and mount a credible campaign. Under today's campaign laws, his campaign would be impossible. This is a large obstacle to the political aspirations of substantive, but relatively unknown, candidates. I agree with you, Dean. Without substance, the money is basically meaningless. I offer Howard Dean as an example of this. Large sums of money are helpful to a credible candidate. It is mostly a waste of good money when given to an empty suit.
The field is absolutely littered with well-funded candidates who went down the tubes anyway. They're incredibly common.
The entire notion that money wins elections is predicated on the notion that voters are brainwashed by campaign ads. It's of the same mentality that says people only eat at McDonald's because we see the commercials, not because we like Big Macs. So we only vote for candidate X because we saw his commercial Y times. It's ridiculous.
Here in New Jersey we have Jon Corzine who set national spending records to secure his senate seat a few years ago. I have no idea how much he spent to secure the governorship, but it was a bunch.
I suspect the (D) behind his name helped as much as the money in New Jersey. Not saying the money was irrelevant, but...
"Money is speech" is, sadly, the only rational answers to those who justify their actions by saying "Money isn't speech." By the time you get "Money is a symbolic exchange medium that enables your speech to be heard by a wider audience" out of your mouth, the speech-restricting zealot has already finished his victory lap. You have to say "Money is speech" to get the ball back in your court. When he says, "No, it's not," that opens the door to your more careful answer.
And besides, money really is a symbol first and foremost, representing a good or service that has been performed or may be purchased. So why can't it symbolize speech? (Full disclosure: I get paid to make presentations and teach classes to programmers, which is a form of speech, so I have a somewhat interested view here.)
You need enough money to mount a credible campaign. Then it's between you and the voters.
That Corzine would win in a solidly Democratic state is hardly surprising. But no amount of "Vote for Corzine" and Corzine commercials would have sold him to New Jersey voters if they did not like him or his stances.
Campaign finance laws are a perfect example of mala prohibita (bad because they're prohibited). Far better to abolish all campaign finance restrictions in favor of full and immediate disclosure of contributions.
The entire notion that money wins elections is predicated on the notion that voters are brainwashed by campaign ads. It's of the same mentality that says people only eat at McDonald's because we see the commercials, not because we like Big Macs. So we only vote for candidate X because we saw his commercial Y times. It's ridiculous.
Money helps.
I suspect the (D) behind his name helped as much as the money in New Jersey. Not saying the money was irrelevant, but...
"Money is speech" is, sadly, the only rational answers to those who justify their actions by saying "Money isn't speech." By the time you get "Money is a symbolic exchange medium that enables your speech to be heard by a wider audience" out of your mouth, the speech-restricting zealot has already finished his victory lap. You have to say "Money is speech" to get the ball back in your court. When he says, "No, it's not," that opens the door to your more careful answer.
And besides, money really is a symbol first and foremost, representing a good or service that has been performed or may be purchased. So why can't it symbolize speech? (Full disclosure: I get paid to make presentations and teach classes to programmers, which is a form of speech, so I have a somewhat interested view here.)
That Corzine would win in a solidly Democratic state is hardly surprising. But no amount of "Vote for Corzine" and Corzine commercials would have sold him to New Jersey voters if they did not like him or his stances.