Government Debt Ceiling and Federal Government Shutdown – Capitol, Congress and Senate – Budget … [+] Package
Here’s a multiple-choice question.
The total cost of the 2020 American presidential campaign was:
(a) $393 million
(b) $3.59 billion
(c) $5.8 billion
(d) $14.0 billion
OK, let’s look at your answer.
If you said (a), you’ve got the annual operating budget for the New York Mets. (Source: statista.com) The difference between the two is that the Mets’ season is, mercifully, over once a year.
If you chose (b), you couldn’t come close to paying for the campaign, but you could run the United Nations for a year: peace keeping, food programs, relief aid, administration, the whole nine yards. (Source: un.org)
Did you go for (c)? Well, you’re in the right ballpark but in the cheap seats. That was the total tab for the 2008 campaign (Source: politico.com) which was a shock then but now seems like a bargain at twice the price, because…
…The answer is (d). Yeah, really. $14 billion. (Source: politico.com) And what we got out of it was the chance to wait for this year’s new record setter. And lest we blame Citizens United, the infamous Supreme Court decision allowing unlimited big money and unaccountable dark money in our elections it does deserve much of the blame – there was also a record level of small on-line donors. No matter how you slice it, this is grotesque, monstrous, and insatiable.
The Leading Cause
There are many factors that contribute to such outrageous spending. “Because we can” is one of them. But fundamentally, we wouldn’t be in this situation if our campaigns didn’t drag on for years. There really isn’t a 2024 presidential campaign; it’s been more like a 2023-24 campaign, a two year gig. And in Donald Trump’s case, he made it clear on his first day in office – January 20, 2017 – that he was filing his re-election papers. Right there and then it became a four-year gig.
Compare. Canada: minimum 36 days, longest ever 74 days. Australia: minimum 33 days, longest ever 11 weeks. France: official campaign 2 weeks. Japan: 12 days. And so on. (Data is from The Electoral Knowledge Network.)
The Big Lesson
The big lesson is waiting to be taught – because it is not yet fully written – and it’s this. When all is said and done on election day, November 5, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will have run a 107-day campaign, not a two-year or a four-year marathon.
Granted, Vice President Harris didn’t plan it this way; this was supposed to be round two of Ridin’ with Biden, period, end of story. But it didn’t work out that way –and the truncated campaign was thrust upon the vice president, take it or leave it.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
What the result will be will, of course, only be known after the polls close 85 days from now. But, win or lose, a full-fledged campaign will have been waged in such a compressed schedule, proof of the fact that it was possible all along.
The lingering question is: Are we willing to learn that lesson?
