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Big Money in Control of Politics
Brett C. George

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Big Money in Control of Politics
Did you prepare for voting in the 2008 Presidential Election by watching the televised
debates? If you answered yes, were you given enough information from each candidate on your
states ballot to make a responsible decision? The answer is no. In fact, you only saw the
viewpoints of the two major party candidates, Senator Barak Obama and Senator John McCain.
The truth is that six candidates were on the ballot in enough states to mathematically win a
majority of Electoral College votes in the election. According to Center for Responsive Politics
(2009), those participants left out were Ralph Nader-Independent, Bob Barr-Libertarian, Chuck
Baldwin-Constitution Party, and Cynthia McKinney-Green Party. So why were Sen. Obama and
Sen. McCain the only participants in the televised debates for the highest office in the United
States Government? The answer is the disparity between the Commission on Presidential
Debates requirements for participating in these debates, the amount of campaign finance for each
candidate, and the unfair gate-keeping of an irresponsible media.
Who is allowed to participate in the National Presidential Debates is determined by the
Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). According to the CPD's 2008 Non-Partisan
Selection Criteria for participating in the national debates, an individual candidate must show
evidence of Constitutional eligibility to run for the office of President, show evidence of ballot
success (i.e. a mathematical chance of winning a majority of electoral votes), and have indicators
of electoral support (i.e. candidates need support of at least 15 percent of national electorate)
(Commission on Presidential Debates, 2007). All of the six candidates I have discussed so far
qualified under the first two criteria, but only the two major party candidates made the third and
final cut. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? Taking a look at how the indicators of electoral support
figures are calculated gives us our answer.

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Electoral support is determined by five selected national public opinion polling
organizations. The CPD uses the average of these five organizations most recently published
polls to determine who will participate in the National Debates (Commission on Presidential
Debates, 2007). Clearly, the candidates who are the most visible to the general public stand to
benefit from these national polling efforts, as the majority of those surveyed have had purposeful
bombardment by media, for the two richest candidates, and very limited exposure to the smaller,
more financially challenged other four major candidates.
The 2008 Presidential election saw record numbers for campaign spending. According to
Center for Responsive Politics (2009), Sen. Obama took home top honors in this fiscal
irresponsibility, spending 730 million U.S. dollars on his campaign!! Sen. McCain did his best to
keep up with his fellow White House hopeful, spending 333 million respectively. The other four
candidates fell drastically short with a total of 5.35 million spent combined!!!!! This disparity of
financial backing amongst the candidates is deplorable! The spending frenzy of major parties in
Presidential elections is representative of the hoggishness that is the elitist class of white collar
politics. With these funds at their disposal, the richest of the candidates get the most exposure
through advertising among the various media outlets.
Mass media has many forms. Television, radio, magazines, and billboards are just a few
examples of mass media. These forms of communication run advertisements for a predetermined
price, based on visibility. The cost of becoming "visible" to the general public is how media
participates in the unfair gate-keeping of modern politics. For example, we will look at a
hypothetical scenario where television stations charge 1,000 U.S. dollars for one 30 second ad
during its on-air broadcasts. Barak Obama would have been able to purchase 730,000 ads on this
station during the election year. That is 2,000 ads per day!! McCain could have purchased 912
ads each day. The other four candidates could purchase only 14 ads per day between them. That

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total gives each candidate, at best, three and a half ads each day to gain exposure through paid
media advertising. Just to put those figures into perspective, at that price, Obama's commercial
could run approximately once every 90 seconds, while one of the four financially challenged
candidates commercials is seen approximately once every 823 minutes!! Like I said before,
deplorable!! This unfair gate-keeping by an irresponsible media leads to the exclusion of
mathematically eligible candidates from the televised National Presidential Debates.
In conclusion, it is through the disparity between the Commission on Presidential
Debates requirements for participating in these debates, the amount of campaign finance for each
candidate, and the unfair gate-keeping of an irresponsible media that keep the average American
uninformed of their options for leadership. In a country where the founding principles are based
on all men being created equal, it would seem a shameful act to exclude anyone their right to be
heard based on the size of their wallet.

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References
Center for Responsive Politics. (2009). Banking on becoming president. retrieved October 4,
2009, from http://www.opensecrets.org
Commission on Presidential Debates. (2007). Candidate selection process. retrieved October 4,
2009, from http://www.debates.org