I have no understanding how unmitigated political advertising and unmitigated abilities to raise funds for political races have not been regulated. With Virginia in play by both candidates TV shows are inundated with political ads. You can't watch news, the Olympics or anything without unmitigated non stop tv advertising for McCain or Obama. I have no idea how this is protected under the concept of "FREE SPEECH". It is anything but FREE. In fact it is so expensive that it ties political candidates into monied interests. It is anything but SPEECH. Campaign ads are short simplistic untruths focused on an emotional attachment either toward a candidate or against another candidate. They have nothing to do with real issues. They absolutely distort real issues. The amount of money focused on campaigns and politics contributes extensively to the dumbing down of the American electorate. I can't believe the founding fathers in their brilliance and concern for creating a better nation, would ever have allowed this distortion to exist if they had the slightest understanding of how society and technology would evolve. I'm sure TV networks and large money interests love unlimited campaign spending. Networks get to rack in the revenues and the more expensive the campaign the more important the sources that can contribute large vital sums of contributions....all of which lead to distorted politics. What a waste.
It has its ups and downs. Personally, i'm in a red state and there is very little acknowledgement that we even exist by the Presidents. However, being in a highly contested area probably gives you more opportunity to get questions answered that are relative to your area, something I don't get. I think it is a little bit ridiculous how much money is spent though.
Gator: prior to this year the presidential campaigns ignored this area. Now there are ads going all the time. I like the news. I like sports. Beyond that I might watch a little tv. The volume of political ads is overwhelming. It gets old very fast. It is not speech; it is dumbed down repetitive ads focused on emotionalism... and it isn't free, that is for sure. As far as getting questions answered pertaining to your area....I wouldn't know.
A little factoid on how campaign money is spent. 3 hours after Obama announced Biden as his running mate an attack ad on Biden was Aired. Not produced, not developed but AIRED. In other words the Republicans, in this case, spent considerable funds before the Democrats picked a VP candidate, preparing attack ads for each potential candidate. If instead of Biden the Dems had picked someone else a different Attack ad would have been aired. All that campaign money doesn't go into productive forms for educating voters. They go into manipulative emotional ads that again... They aren't FREE and... They aren't SPEECH Its a terrible way to elect a president, make important decisions, and set a pattern for the future of the nation.
Yeah, unfortunately they know that the only source of information (assuming thats what you want to even call it) is while some people up are up from their sofa grabbing a bag of dorito's (the cheesy kind) listening to the TV's commercials during a break in the Real World on MTV. Not a very good source, but many people never sit down and actually listen to what the real issues.
America should have a TV program called "president factor" where you can phone in and vote people out and have done with it. Your political system is an absolute farce and nothing short of a circus.
A candidate should not be allowed to spend more on a campaign than the office pays per year. It does not make for good business sense.