As stated by this CNN article, Hillary Clinton's got her eyes set on $100 million-- the amount of money she says she'll need in the primary to kickstart her presidential bid. Her camp has sent out a video asking for 10 people, aptly named "Hillstarters," to donate $2,700 each to start her fundraising. She is hoping to start raising money early because her staff estimates that it will cost more money to win the 2016 presidential campaign than it cost in 2012, where Obama spent $1 billion. Her strategists are guessing that the Clinton Campaign with SuperPACs and supportive groups will raise $2 billion for the general election, but they are focusing right now on the money that they need for the primaries.
First of all, I think it's ridiculous how much is spent on every campaign. I understand that the expenses are crucial to advertising and the like, but it is SO MUCH MONEY. Clinton is definitely trying to get a head start in this fundraising game, as many other possible presidential candidates have not yet officially declared that they're running. I can see where this would be beneficial, especially since she will have the money to start advertising (positively and negatively) much sooner than the currently uncommitted. Although I'm not exactly sure how one would limit or control raising and spending on political campaigns, I do think it would be interesting to see how much each candidate could do with a specified, equal amount of money-- especially to see if any candidate would pull ahead who right now doesn't have to money to compete with powerhouses like the Clintons.
The United States spending for political campaigns should just be eliminated, they should not fund campaigns when candidates have the ability to form SuperPACs and generate their own funding. Our country is so split on party support that candidates could easily compete head on head for political funding. Our deficit should not be cut into as a Country and campaign donation surplus should go to Americas budget.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Will. The government should. It be funding this madness. It just encourages candidates to spend way more money than necessary on these campaigns. Like Abbey said some of it is necessary but still! We could get our country out of debt if everyone was as eager to donate money to that kind of cause as they are to donate to campaigns.
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