The costs of campaigns

I’ll let you in on a little secret, the real reason we don’t have campaign finance reform is not because the politicians like raising money and figuring out ways to effectively win elections. It’s because there is a huge industry that it supports, and the biggest player is the mass media.

Politicians buy TV ads, lots of them. They buy radio ads, billboards, newspaper ads, a lot of direct mail, robo-calls, and now internet developers. It’s a crazy cottage industry in the billions- that has a bizarre sales cycle- that unfortunately for real retailers, usually culminates each November- in the run-up to the most valuable part of their sales cycle: Christmas. I’ve written about this before:

The average Congressional race has a price tag of over $1 million. Of course, our district, OH-3, which was solidly Democratic and compact when Tony Hall was our Rep for over 20 years, has been fixed to favor Republicans- and especially Mike Turner. The original boundary was so carefully drawn that his old property line was pretty much the district border. It’s the prime reason that this special primary election has turned into an experiment for “regional voting” instead of doing what we do in every other election.

Turner has never had to sweat an opponent. In fact, it could be said that’s he’s been thrown patsies for opponents, almost as a tacit move by the Dems to rebuild their base. The County Commission has flipped from being all Republican to all Dems during his term. Was a deal made? We’ll never know.

Of the three candidates that Democrats will have to choose from on July 13, 2010, I’m the only one who has been there from Turner’s beginnings- when he used to drive a silver Dodge Shadow with a Bush 1 bumper sticker. I know exactly how he plowed his path into Congress- and I will hold him accountable. I’m also the only one with a record of my stands online, for all to examine- and the only one to have had his name on the ballot before.

Yes, I have political baggage- I’ve been mocked by the media for trying to draw attention, by any means necessary, to Turner’s love for holding secret, illegal meetings of government bodies. I’ve been mocked for challenging the status quo- for denouncing the way party politics work in this town- but, I keep coming back because frankly, it’s the way I’ve been made. You can read the book– it’s only 60 pages and penned by my father- I give it away free for now.

No one would give any of the three candidates a chance in he-double hockey sticks to beat Mike Turner, unless he does something incredibly stupid. Or the voters actually wake up and research the positions: mine vs. Turner’s. A great majority of voters in OH-3 have been burned by his reckless protection of corporate America- while Mike Turner full well believes in subsidizing huge companies that subsidize his runs for office. NCR is the best example.

You’ve already seen this site, go compare Guy Fogle For Congress, and Joe Roberts For Congress.

There is more information in this post alone, than in their entire site.

Back to campaign costs- none of the three candidates will ever raise the half-million that Turner already has in the kitty, and his ability to raise more if he feels threatened is guaranteed. It is pointless to attack a defender conventionally, with conventional forces. This isn’t new strategy, it goes back to Sun Tzu. As a veteran of the United States Army Special Forces, I can assure you that I will not try to beat Turner by playing his game, but the reality is, I still need at least $10K to purchase door hangers, banners, voter cards, phone technology etc. and I need it now.

Of course, you could say- why donate now? Why not wait until after the primary and support the final opponent- I may finance the wrong guy? Well, first, I’m going to guess you visited the other two candidates’ sites- and saw that they don’t have any positions whatsoever on their sites. And, two, they don’t have a long history with Turner- including beating him in court 5 times (remember, he’s the lawyer, and had your tax dollars to pay for the defense of his illegal actions).

So here’s the deal. I’m going to offer to help my opponents. I’ll provide them with technical assistance on their sites, I’ll print professional door hangers with all of our names, our sites, and our positions. I’ll help organize some debates/round tables/call in shows- what ever- so that voters can get a real look at who is most suited to be the sacrificial lamb sent to the proverbial slaughter- and help the Democratic Party learn to utilize the same technology that was employed by the Obama campaign to optimally organize and motivate our Democratic voters to kick Mike Turner out of DC- no matter whom the voters choose.

All I need is contact from both Guy and Joe- we’ll sit down, and work together to inform the most voters of our positions, in the most cost efficient manner possible. This is much like my proposal for “The Dayton Process.” I’m offering this because it’s about time, we stop having the best politicians money can buy- and elect the best person to represent us.

If you know Joe or Guy- let them know. But, in the meantime, it’ll still take money, so donate.

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