Political Advertising Money–WASTED?
Was reading the paper this morning, tracking the various amendments that are up for a vote Tuesday. They somehow were able to add up the amount of money spent on advertising FOR and AGAINST each amendment. What was interesting to me was the amendment that would increase the allowable amount of money that can be wagered at the various mountain gambling towns around Colorado. According to the numbers, $7.6 million has been spent on advertising in SUPPORT of the amendment, while ZERO has been spent advertising AGAINST it! Not a single dollar! Makes me wonder–did they really NEED to spend $7.6 million promoting this amendment? Doesn’t sound like anybody really opposes the idea, maybe that multiple millions of dollars could’ve been spent on something else?
Another thought–where does all this money for political advertising come from? Millions and millions of dollars. I know, there are people who donate “nickels and dimes,” but isn’t most of the cash generated from the wealthy? And, doesn’t that tip the balance in favor of those people, regardless of who’s elected, or what’s passed?
One last thought. Much of the money spenty on political advertising will be WASTED–I’m talking about all the money that was/will be spent on candidates and issues that are defeated. Makes me think that maybe we should ban political advertising just like we ban tobacco ads. More and more, it seems like elections are becoming spend-fests–orgies of negative commercials, where the one with the most cash wins.