Presidential Donations

Here's a link to the national donations registration for the 2008 Presidential Election. Interesting reading, and unsurprisingly it's the big lobbies that are spending with abandon.
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/select.asp?Ind=A02

In the end, it's really about funds to pay for the 'white hat' marketing to convince the voters that 'your guy (or woman)' is the 'best' candidate for the job. And to pay for the 'marketing-related activities'--voter registration and voter-drives (busing in voters, buying them dinner, etc.) , sponsorship activities, voter research, etc.

Of course, there's always the tried and true 'black hat' method: research up a list of the recently deceased and have them vote. A review of the New York voting records from the last 1960's demonstrated conclusively that practice works. Intimidation, losing returns, confusing ballots, payoffs as raises or contracts, the list goes on and on.

To paraphrase Groucho Marx: I'd never want to belong to a club that would want me for a member.


But, it's not all doom and gloom. The internet lets news organizations report and publish: voter lists, donations lists, scandal lists, registration requirements, candidate histories, etc. It's up to the individual voters, it's their right and responsibility, to do the research and vote for a candidate that they think will enact policies that are to their long-term benefit. The information's out there for the public to review (this isn't Stalinist Russia in the 1930's).



-Shawn