Dollars and Sense

It's astronomical to see the dollars that are being spent on campaign finance, and I ask does it make sense?  Here is a look from opensecrets.org at the skyrocketing costs of elections in recent years:

Is it reaaly ness

Is it really necessary to spend this money to win an election?  Typically the winner is the candidate who spent the most money so it appears so.  The 2016 Presidential campaign looks to be the most expensive campaign to date.  I don't think that inflation is to blame.

Carry Levine and Ben Wieder co authored an article posted on www.publicintegrity.org discussing possible costs and state, "If Vice President Joe Biden decides to mount a 2016 presidential bid, his chances will rest heavily on his ability to raise enormous sums of money, something that he has not exactly excelled at in previous races." 

Money is a vital component of the electoral process.  How does it compare to how much the governments spend on their annual budget?  Let's compare.  The cost of the presidential race in 2012 was $2,621,415,792 per www.publicintegrity.org statistics.  The 2015 approved annual budget for Brazoria County was $3,182,799.81 per the county website.  At www.texastransparancy.org the 2014 Texas state revenue was listed as $104.9 billion and the expenditures were reported as $99.7 billion. 


Do we even know the actual costs of the election?  According to Derek Willis in his article in the New York times, we really don't have accurate figures on total election costs.  Read more on his article found at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/17/upshot/every-election-is-the-most-expensive-election-or-not.html?_r=0

If you missed the recent democratic debate, here are some highlights:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/13/politics/democratic-debate-updates/