We have just witnessed the most
expensive presidential campaign in history.

The 2004 presidential and congressional elections will cost a record $3.9 billion, according to projections based on a study of campaign finance figures by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The estimate represents a 30 percent increase over the $3 billion spent on federal elections four years ago.

The presidential race alone, fueled by massive spending by President Bush, Sen. John Kerry, the political parties and a host of advocacy groups spending millions on ads and voter mobilization, will cost an unprecedented $1.2 billion or more, according to the Center's estimates.

Here are the candidates' expenditures through October 14th.

Over half a BILLION dollars, just between Bush and Kerry. Now let's see how much of that money was picked out of OUR pockets (Federal money)

Cobb	$0
Peroutka	$0
Badnarik	$0
Nader	799,000
Kerry	$74,620,000
Bush	$74,620,000
total...........	$150,000,000

That a lot of tax money, isn't it? Ah, but that is far from all of it. Remember all those candidates competing earlier for the Democratic party nomination? Yessir... most of them got federal money too:

$27 million in tax money for Democratic candidates who didn't get the nomination! Notice that 2 of those Democratic candidates spent more TAX MONEY than all of the alternative candidates spent on their whole campaigns ($5,336,000) COMBINED. Together, those 7 early, losing candidates received FIVE TIMES as much tax money as the total spent by all alternative candidates.

Altogether, the 8 Democratic candidates, including Kerry, received at least $101,744,000 in tax money.

Can the numbers help us to understand American politics a little better?

Notice that Nader got more tax dollars than the total campaign spending of the 3 alternative party candidates? I should add that when a Libertarian candidate has qualified for federal money, that money has been refused, as a matter of principle over politics.

Notice that, together, the 4 alternative candidates spent a total of $5,336,000 on their campaigns while Kerry and Bush EACH got FOURTEEN TIMES that much just in TAX MONEY.

The Dems and GOP give themselves far more tax money just for their conventions than all the alternative parties spend on campaigns. Are you beginning to understand the STRANGLEHOLD the Dems and GOP have on politics?

The source of big political contributions

The opinion among a lot of the American public seems to be that corporations are the big threat to our political future... that they influence politics with their money, buy welfare for themselves, and are gradually taking over our nation with their influence. It's also generally assumed that most corporate donations go to Republicans. Let's take a look at the biggest political contributors and see who they really are.

The top 100 donors continue to give more money to Democrats than Republicans – a trend that runs counter to the overall pattern, which has always favored the GOP. The main reason for the Democratic tilt among the biggest donors is the presence of the big labor unions – 27 of them on the top 100 list. Since more than 90 percent of their money goes to Democrats, that has a powerful effect on the overall numbers in this study.

Only four unions out of the 27 that fell within the top 100 donors gave less than 85 percent of their money to Democrats, and only one – the American Maritime Officers – gave the majority of their dollars to Republicans.

Of the top 17 donors, 12 are unions.
Those 17 top donors gave $318 million and 83% went to Democrats

Top 10 donors' contributions since 1989:

American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees	$35,401,331
National Assn of Realtors	$25,474,880
National Education Assn	$24,166,899
Assn of Trial Lawyers of America	$23,829,916
Communications Workers of America	$22,590,066
Service Employees International Union	$22,482,475
Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers	$22,093,427
Carpenters & Joiners Union	$21,395,887
Teamsters Union	$21,363,651
American Medical Assn	$21,195,881

With the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees being the largest political contributor, is it any wonder that government at all levels continues to become more massive? (Yes, goverment growth at local levels is far greater than at the federal level, but that's another article). While it isn't hard to understand where trial lawyers get money to contribute, isn't it odd that the teacher's union can contribute even more while complaining that teachers are underpaid and not enough money is spent on education? Trial lawyers lobby against tort reform, and the NEA lobbies hard against school vouchers.

Only about 13.2% of American workers are union members, and I'll guarantee you that a significant number of them do not consider themselves Democrats, but virtually all union money goes to Democratic candidates. Suspicious, isn't it?

Democrats and Republicans like to pretend that they get their support from ordinary people. As you can see, they get a ton of money from big organizations and another ton they just lift out of our pockets. I have no hesitation in calling that corruption on a massive scale. Money goes where it gets results. The big unions and other organizations lobby hard to get a "return" on their "investment". If you're an "ordinary" American, you're not being represented. Your hard-earned tax money goes to fund two parties, and you have no lobbyists to demand that your interests be protected.