Democracy Blow-Out Sale!
The Buffalo News is reporting that the race for NY-26th may be “the most expensive congressional contest in local history.” You can read the entire story here. This is what jumped out on first glance:
At least eight wealthy aspirants for Reynolds’ seat plan to contribute substantial amounts of their own money to their campaigns
(snip)
Four others — Democrat Jonathan P. Powers and Republicans David Bellavia, Nick Sinatra, Stephen Hawley and Henry F. Wojtaszek — also are potential candidates, but they do not have the wealth of the others. So they face the prospect of raising the $2 million to $3 million most experts believe is needed to compete in the 26th Congressional District and its two media markets of Buffalo and Rochester.
But Jon Powers had this to say about self-financing:
[any candidate who writes a check to pay for a campaign] “is out of touch with the struggles of working families in the district.â€
“I don’t think this is what the Founding Fathers intended,†he said.
Powers’ campaign has more grassroots support, emphasized by the fact that 65 percent of his donations are $50 or less. This is an important point because often self-financed candidates are not adept at getting out and resonating with voters.
Check this nugget out (bold mine):
The concept of self-financing campaigns prompted Jennifer A. Steen, assistant professor of political science at Boston College, to write a book, “Self-Financed Candidates in Congressional Elections.†She said self-financing often is a waste of money because it is spent by “amateur politicians.â€
“You’ve got these people who say ‘Hey, I want to run for Congress,’ but they don’t know what they’re doing,†she said. “They don’t realize their intelligence and business experience does not make up for the political experience of the political candidates.â€
Self-financed candidates typically overspend on the best of everything, she said. But few get elected, and for those who do succeed, even fewer self-finance their reelection campaigns.
This is going to be a very interesting race to watch. It’s like good vs. evil, the haves vs. the have-nots. I hope democracy is not for sale but the fact that not one but eight wealthy candidates are throwing in their own money is ominous…
I found this Buffalo News article to be very disappointing. The author seems to think that the race is about who can afford to spend the most. He ignores factors like organization, campaigning, grassroots efforts, etc. He writes that, “The eight [millionaire candidates]… are now dominating a race for a seat that pays $169,300 per year…†Excuse me, but as an observer of this race I have seen only one candidate, the non-millionaire Jon Powers, who can in any sense claim to be “dominating†the race. He has won the endorsement of five of the seven Democratic Committees in the district, winning every county endorsement that has been made so far. He has built up a strong grassroots organization, and has raised more money than any other candidate.
I think that the article’s author, Bob McCarthy, has missed, or chosen to ignore, the big story of 2008: that due to the internet, campaign funding has changed. Campaigns no longer need to rely on big donors. This is shown by the Democratic primary. Clinton had most of the big donors lined up. However, Obama has been able to raise vastly more than her, by relying on many small donations raised through the internet. At this point Clinton’s campaign can’t pay it’s bills, while Obama’s has millions available. Also due to the internet, congressional races have become national races; a candidate who can capture the imagination of people online can raise money throughout the nation (as Bill Foster in Illinois did, for example). Powers looks like he has managed to do that, being written about enthusiastically on many of the largest blogs.