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Obama's Supporters Spoke With Wallets

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 30, 2008

Four years ago after what was then the most expensive presidential election in history, much was made of the cost.

Critics decried the buying of the presidency.

Flash forward to Nov. 4 and an election where the winning candidate collected and spent more money than any party nominee ever, and little was said about it.

Which is as it should be. Barack Obama would likely have won the election even without all the money, but the people who backed him spoke up throughout the campaign by opening their wallets. Yes, Justice Stevens, people speak with their money. (Justice John Paul Stevens in supporting campaign finance laws to put an end to "corruption" has written that campaign donations or contributions do not constitute political speech.)

It's also likely that if Obama were, say, George W. Bush, the same folks who stood back and kept quiet about the amounts of money raised this campaign cycle would have been screeching from the rooftops. Instead, they waited until after the election - and after the money served its purpose - to renew their call for a strong public financing system.

As The Wall Street Journal noted in a recent editorial, "If there was ever a demonstration of the folly and hypocrisy of campaign finance reform, this would be it."

From our vantage point, and after three notoriously expensive elections in a row, it's clear that the so-called reforms championed by Sens. John McCain and Russ Feingold failed.

Predictably, interest groups and individuals found a way around the McCain-Feingold law. Obama may have controlled his destiny, but the disconnected political groups who supported him also played a significant role.

The truth is more money is flowing than ever before, and we still don't know exactly who bankrolls either side. The national political parties may be burdened by the rules, but independent groups, controlled by who knows who, are not.

The Republican Party has filed two suits challenging McCain-Feingold's ban on national parties raising money for state races and rules that restrict groups from coordinating messages with candidates.

These are healthy lawsuits. The law should require disclosure of all contributors, but it should not be a restriction on a free people's right to participate in the elections process. Voters have the right to contribute to candidates either independently or through organizations, and they will inevitably find a way to support their candidates.

No law can stop the unfair political advertisements, biased books or partisan films that accompany election cycles - unless Congress completely loses its bearings and totally repeals the First Amendment.

This cycle Obama raised $639 million, about the amount President Bush and John Kerry together raised four years ago. McCain raised $350 million, but tethered to public financing he was limited to spending $84 million during the general election.

Money didn't corrupt this campaign cycle; it gave millions of people the opportunity to show their support for the man who would be president.

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