I get and share your frustration! It is CRAZY! There is lots of money for priorities in this country. Our current problem just shows that we the people are not the priorities. Power, Greed and Lust are. I dont feel optimistic.
Lmno, thanks for that. So I wonder how it is spent from there? Should it not go to the deficit? It would be nice if that were the case eh?
Here's the text from the law that requires this--it's 26 U.S.C. Section 9038(b)(3):
"Amounts received by a candidate from the matching payment account may be retained for the liquidation of all obligations to pay qualified campaign expenses incurred for a period not exceeding 6 months after the end of the matching payment period. After all obligations have been liquidated, that portion of any unexpended balance remaining in the candidate’s accounts which bears the same ratio to the total unexpended balance as the total amount received from the matching payment account bears to the total of all deposits made into the candidate’s accounts shall be promptly repaid to the matching payment account."
Just found the answer to what happens to the left-overs...
http://askville.amazon.com/money-presidential-canditates/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=6965119
It goes to the US Treasury!!!
adgal:
My figures came from Wiki, so don't quote me, as Wiki isn't necessarily the be-all/end-all in information sources, but I think the numbers are pretty close to the mark.
Are you kidding me.....they seriously spent 84 and 315 MILLION $$? Holy canoli! That is astounding to me...and they are all talking about how to deal with the deficit? Amazing....
Actually they are supposed to be accountable for every cent raised and where it came from. I am sure as with anything else tho, that probably is not the case. When I claim I gave so much money to support a campaign it has to check out with irs records too is all I really am sure of.
Who's to say whether the money is used or not?
Say I donate $1 Million. At the end of the election, there's $5 Million left over, but in the course of the election, $5 Million was spent.
Who';s to say that MY $1 Million was spent, or was part of the left-over.
Get what I'm saying?
If you donate $5 via the internet, who's keeping track of your individual $5 donation to see when & if & how it's used?
Unless they have an absolutely revolutionary $$$ tracking system of some description, I don't think there'd be any way to say whether or not YOUR individual donation got utilized in the course of the election, in order to facilitate the return of the unused funds.
I'm still confused.
Teko:
It makes sense to return the unused funds, but I still question the HOW in that scenario.
Unused campaign funds are returned to the origianal contributor within a certain amount of time after the election takes place. At least that is my understanding.
I still want to know what happens to the EXTRA (left over/unused) campaign funds.
In the 2008 election, McCain spent $84M and Obama spent $315M. I feel QUITE sure that McCain raised more $$$ than $84M.
What happened to the left-over $$$?
Does it get rolled-over into the next Republican presidential campaign? Does it get absorbed into their own personal fortune?
Just curious... not trying to start a fight.
If I thought they'd listen, I'd love to send them ALL my two cents!
Anyway, I agree that the amount of money that is raised and used to get elected is troubling when you think of what else it could be used for. And when it comes down to it, it seems like all politicians are basically the same anyway.
Whew . . . I sound optimistic today, don't I?
I'll do some research to see if I can find that again (how much Obama spent on his campaign), but that's not the real point I was trying to make. Shouldn't they be concentrating on the issues at hand (raising the debt ceiling (or not), cutting spending (or not), raising taxes (or not), balancing the budget (or not), making sure SS recipients, military get their checks, etc) rather than campaigning for the next election?
The election is approx 16 months away - are we sit back and wait until then for things to be resolved?
Can anyone, in all honesty, believe that these politicians give a rat's behind about anything, other than the next election? It's all so political, we've gotten lost in the shuffle......
So I hear all the time that they have to raise all kinds of money now, something about corporations and stuff being allowed to donate as people? Not sure what that was all about, personally I think they otta all run equal and money should not be part of it. Money is turning out to be Americas God.
I would love to know where all that money goes as well. I remember going online and seeing an article about a dinner event Obama was having with a bunch of big names to get campaign money. The price per plate for each attending was outrageous and I couldn't keep reading it because it just made me sick. I live right near a very poor city and volunteer at the hospital in that city. There are sooo many children and people who need help just to live, yet our president is spending how much just to try to get reelected. There needs to be a cap on how much money can be wasted on this(and if there is one, it needs to be lowered). I really hate the politics game with presidents. They really only try to get things done their first year in office, the next 3 years are spent trying to figure out the best way to campaign to become president again. There is something very wrong with that...
What happens to the money that left over AFTER the election is over and won/done?
Where does the EXTRA go?
I don't believe Obama had $75 million to put into his election campaign.
Shouldn't they ALL be working on getting the country out of this mess, as opposed to worrying about campaign $? This all goes back to whomever said the politicians don't give a rat's patooty about the American people --- it's all about getting elected.
Didn't Obama spend something like $75 mil of his own $ for the 2008 election? Maybe this $86 mil came from his own coffers too.........
I must say you both make excellent points and I somewhat agree....it's just that there's so much at stake here. We do need some sort of campaign reform. The money could probably pay for everyone's health care.
Good for you!!! I can speak from experience when I say that just a fraction of those dollars would help an awful lot of children. I am always astounded when I read how much the US candidates spend to get elected. Here, the amount they are allowed to raise/spend is limited to a fraction of what happens there. I have to say, it's a rule I agree with. Kind of levels the playing field a bit. Presidency should not be purchased, don't you think?
It sickens me to see how much money is raised and used on campaigning. We have so many people who are in need of money/help and we waste the money on campaigns for the president? I'll send my money to charities to help those in need and NO presidential candidate will get my money.
I helped too ! lol Don't have much but send what I can.
lol, yeah, I give to obama directly but still have all these other groups trying to get money. I told em if they wanted some that bad they ws gonna have to give me some to pay em with. ROFL.... I heard that is the new trend these days! Needless to say they did not see it as funny at all.
haha..lol OMG!!! I would've hung up too!!!
My wife donated to the Republican Party a long time ago and it was like feeding a stray dog. We can’t get rid of them. They call about once a week.
Once I told them I was unemployed and could not afford to give anything. Their response was, I could use a credit card. I responded back, isn’t spending money we don’t have is what got us into this mess?
Now I tell them I am not sure if I will be voting Republican so to be fair, any money I send them, I will have to match to the Democrats. She asked me how much would I be sending. I hung up on her.