One of the issues I’ve been wrestling with regarding the current presidential campaign has nothing to do with the candidates policies or positions - it has everything to do with numbers.

$563,589,051 is the amount that both John McCain and Barack Obama have raised as of July. Also, as of July they’ve both spent about 80% of what they’ve raised. If I were able to somehow attain 470 Million Dollars and told I had a couple of years to spend it, I’d have no clue where to start - except maybe give it away which the candidates definitely aren’t doing.

So, is this how you become president?
What about money raised for all the other people who have dropped out along the way?

Of the 22 additional candidates who dropped out, over 600 Million Dollars was raised. For what? Do those that contributed get a cool bumper sticker that will forever remind them of the money they threw away? Then there are those candidates like Hillary Clinton who raised millions but are still millions in debt to their own campaign spending. Now they have to raise money to pay off debt for a failed campaign. What’s the incentive for giving then? Apparently Hillary offered one lucky donor a trip to the DNC with her. I think burning my money would be a better use than giving it to an indebted campaign. At least I’d get a little warmth.

When this campaign is done, over 1 billion dollars will have been raised. What could you do with 1 billion dollars? Right now in the world there are 3.25 Billion people living on less than $2 a day. This includes people like Barack Obama’s half-brother. According to relief organizations like World Vision, for just over $1 a day, children who are in need of food and basic health care can be taken care of.

As both candidates promise change, the only guarantee for anything new is that together they’ll have raised more money for this campaign than has ever been raised in the history of presidential campaigns.