US Politics / Ari Last / 02 November 2008 /

The 2008 Presidential Election campaign has been the most costly exercise in democracy the world has ever seen, and most of it has been spent by Barack Obama...

As the election race reaches its conclusion, accurate calculations of how much was spent on the campaign can be deciphered, and the scope and expense of what has been an arduous few months can be brought into full view. By the time America finds out its new leader, close to 2 billion dollars would have been spent on the process of deciding who of Barack Obama and John McCain picks up the keys to the White House.

In a time of severe economic recession, many will feel quite perturbed at the astronomical expenditure of the election process, yet to the political purists the most concerning element is how that money was divided, and the statistic that shows Barack Obama benefiting from more than double the amount of hard cash then was made available to John McCain may prove difficult to comprehend.

How can America, the land of the free, the modern day home of Democracy, run an election whereby one candidate gains an unquestionable advantage over the other, not because of his ideas, beliefs, persona, or charm, but simply because he has a more affluent set of friends?

Some will argue that Obama's ability to raise funds is a skill in itself. Many people make handsome livings off of their abilities to raise capital for a variety of individuals and corporations. Fundraising should be viewed as a trait and attribute like any other, yet this point becomes slightly moot when one considers that Obama originally promised to use state funding to drive his campaign before changing his mind, with sceptics compounding this issue by claiming the Democrat change of heart occurred quickly after realizing that he had the capability to raise far more funds then his rival.

Obama fans will claim that this accusation is a Republican slant on the truth, and that Obama's decision in June to forgo the $84 million state grant was a risky, but calculated gamble that has paid him huge dividends.

The truth is that however this situation arose, whether it was via a perfectly acceptable strategy from the Obama camp or via a cunning and slightly underhand ploy, a campaign run on two hugely contrasting budgets is always likely to produce a result not based on genuine voter sentiment but based on greater voter exposure to one over the other.

With a budget twice as large as John McCain's, which Senator Obama has used to great effect on the TV, newspapers, radio stations and the streets, it would have taken some horrendously catastrophic PR work for the Hawaiian not have gained such a lead going into election day.

While many Americans are clued up when it comes to their nations' politics, many, possibly even more, voters would have been confronted by the campaign devoid of almost any knowledge about either party or candidate.

Yet due to Obama's hundreds of millions, many of these voters will now be voting Democrat based not on what they have seen or heard, but on how much they have seen or heard.

With odds of [1.12] on Betfair, Barack Obama looks almost certain to assume the role of the world's most powerful man. Undoubtedly he is an intelligent, highly capable individual who may well turn into one of America's great leaders. Yet it could be argued that the extreme wealth he has procured during the campaign will play as much a part as the ideologies and ideas he has preached in securing his ascendency to the White House.

And for an election to hinge on the issue of who has more money seems almost undemocratic.

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