The Price to Play: Buying the Presidency
In a far cry from Honest Abe's day, the road to the White House no longer goes through small towns; it beams its way across the airwaves into the homes of millions through the media. In today's electoral politics, we see a one thing that is the driving force of all politicians: money. But with more and more presidential hopefuls amassing larger and larger amounts of money, we are only left to wonder why this much money is necessary and whether or not it can truly buy one's way into the White House. Dennis Plane, assistant professor of politics, gives his two cents on this big money issue.
Question
In your opinion, can the presidency be bought?
Answer
No, but yes in a way. Money is a prerequisite to winning, but it doesn't mean that the one with the most money will win. You certainly do have to be a high roller to play the game, however. It comes down to the fact that those without much money fall out of the race, leaving only the candidates with a lot of money.
Q
Is this going against the fundamentals of democracy?
A
Absolutely, it's undemocratic. We narrow our options to only those who can raise money. Most other democracies have a more egalitarian system where campaigns are financed by the government; this opens the number of choices in elections. Money is the mother's milk of politics; without it, you can't win.
Q
Is there too much emphasis on fundraising and not enough on campaigning?
A
From a strategic standpoint, politicians must gain a lot of money in order to stay in the race. From another point of view, would it be better to spend more talking about the issues? Yes, but the media places this emphasis on money. They report on the "pre-primary" --on the amount of finances each candidate has--before primary season even begins. Ideally we would like for candidates to focus on issues, however.
Q
Where does the majority of this money go?
A
The main cost of campaigns is television advertising. The rest of the money is spent on staff, travel, polls, etc. In other democracies, they view the airwaves as a public resource which is to be used for the public good. Because of this, they can run candidate ads longer and more often for no cost to candidates. In the U.S., we have given away our access of the airwaves to private companies who charge huge rates that increase with demand, and during campaigns, this demand is higher, so the rates begin to go up.
Q
Could someone without adequate fundraising ever win the presidency?
A
No. As said before, money is a prerequisite to winning. At local elections, a person with little fundraising may win, but at the presidential level, money is like oxygen, once a candidate runs out, they fall out of the race.
- John Wall, Director of Media Relations