Imagine the problems that could have been solved and the people that could have been helped with the money spent on the presidential election alone.
The 2012 presidential election shattered spending records, with the Obama campaign spending $396 million and the Romney campaign $472 million, according to reports.
And closer to home, spending in Minnesota’s Eighth District congressional race surpassed $10 million.
Former and newly elected Congressman Rick Nolan calls the amount of money spent on political races obscene. We agree.
Nolan, elected Tuesday to the Eighth District, has pledged to make campaign finance reform a top priority, starting with a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. That opened the floodgates for special-interest political spending, including some $9 million that outside groups poured into the Eighth District.
Spending by independent political groups on races for the presidency, the Senate, and the House of Representatives topped $1.3 billion this year, according to the Sunlight Foundation. And at least $300 million was spent by groups that are not required to disclose their donors.
The outside spending in the Eighth District trails only Pennsylvania’s 12th and Ohio’s 16th districts.
But the Eighth District isn’t the most expensive race in Minnesota. Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann’s campaign, for example, has spent $21 million in an attempt to hold her 6th District congressional seat against Democrat Jim Graves, who has spent about $1.5 million. But outside groups haven’t given much attention to that race, spending only $122,113.
Clearly, Nolan is on the right track with finance reform and we support his efforts to end the obscenity.
