Who has raised the most money in the exciting and nail-biting Presidential campaign so far? A new cool widget from the award-winning Money and Politics mashup MAPLight lets you follow the money up close. It updates automatically at the end of every month. Now that is the kind of widget I like.
Looking at this data makes me wonder a few things. Does the candidate who raises the most money automatically win? Should they or not? I don't think it should be all about the money. Second, should it cost this much money to run for office. And where does all of this money go. What is the opportunity cost of this money? And who is hoping for an unspoken in when the campaign is over? See www.maplight.org for more intriguing links between money and politics.
We, the individuals and the companies, are often asked to pay for these campaigns out of our own pockets, and the contributions are not tax-deductible. Imagine if a number of TV ads were free to presidential candidates who met a certain threshold. Imagine if these hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in schools, in the environment, in our country instead of in media ads.
Some people tell me that public financing for public elections will never work because if you create a rule, the special interest money will just pop up in another place and be even harder to track. I don't think that should stop us. Clean elections are working well in Arizona and Maine. See Public Campaign and the Public Campaign Action Fund for more mouth-watering details about the future of clean elections around the country. Imagine if elected officials could spend less time fundraising and more time governing for the people by the people. Let's dream this dream.
Who is the best presidential candidate on the environment? Let's look at the records. Here are some eye-opening links:
Grist Compare the Candidates - Grist goes the green political distance
League of Conservation Voters National Scorecard - how is it possible that John McCain received a 0% score in 2007 for missing every environmental vote, including a critical one on repealing tax breaks for oil companies (they need tax breaks?) where he would have been the decider.
CLCV California Environmental Scorecard 2007 which shows the average Assembly Republican score of 5% pro-green and the average Assembly Democrat score of 94% pro-green. Is the environment really still such a partisan issue? We have to get beyond this to create a green economy and sustainable future for all.
CLCV Candidates Positions on Global Warming with enlightening answers by two big names. I see pledges of an 80% target reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050. Now that is straight talk I like.
Let's follow the green all the way to the big office. And I don't mean money.
Heart of Green is a nonpartisan, independent web site focused on all things green.
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