Current 2012 Political Campaign Funds Of Presidential Election

Abstract

              Campaign Finance Reform is the new motive that the United State is using in order to change the traditional aspect for involving money in politics. There is a tradition in the American politics where politician has been using money in their campaigns in order to win the attention of voters. However, with the Campaign Finance Reform, the nation wants to change this unacceptable tradition through using various initiatives. This means that the nation is ready to educate the public and use other initiatives in order to curb the usage of money on politics especially during the campaign periods. This paper offers detailed information relating to the campaign funds of the presidential election especially the one that is expected to happy later this year.

 

Current 2012 Political Campaign Funds Of Presidential Election

           Various reasons contribute to the usage of money by politicians during the campaign period. Some of them include conflict of interest whereby the politicians use their power to lure the public in supporting them. However, the American government has various set regulations of which the politicians are supposed to follow when using or spending the campaign funds. Some of the politicians claim that the wrong usage of the campaign funds is because they are underfinanced. This makes the current political system to favor only some individuals who end up spending the money in the wrong way. In order to stop the politicians from using the campaign funds in the wrong way, various strategies ought to be set. Some people suggest that it would be effective to implement this plan if only the government manages to take the campaign funds away from the politicians. The main problem associated with the campaign fund is the usage of the money. This problem is raised by the current strategy of the campaign finance reform whereby it does not offer strict measures of how politicians ought to spend the campaign funds. In order to get a clear view of this information, let us first look at the issues associated with campaign funds at the last presidential election campaigns that happened bask in 2008.

               The 2008 presidential campaign was much different compared to other campaigns that ever happened all the years before. This is because the campaign funding increased in a significant way compared to other election years. The presidential candidate, Barrack Obama, who then won the election that year managed to raise a significant amount of funding. The other main reason that made the campaign different is the fact that Obama used new tactics in rising funding for the campaign. For example, he used a new method whereby he could court and mobilize activities through the Internet. Moreover, Obama raised various grassroots funding through requesting for donations via the Internet. This strategy was employed in every state and the most significant issue is that the strategy worked efficiently. This made Obama to achieve a breaking record whereby he managed to raise considerable amount of funding. The main reason that made Obama to achieve this significant funding is that he got the funding from the individual small donors. Another important issue to note is that fundraising is of significant importance in the American presidential campaigns. This is because the funding tends to determine the candidates viability. The money raised in the funding is applied in various significant ways. For example, the money that was obtained in Obama’s presidential campaign was used to pay salaries for various officials who took part and non-volunteers who took part in the campaign. The other part of the funding was used to pay for transportations purposes. Moreover, some part of the money was used to pay for the campaign materials that were used.

              Another area that the funding was of significant assistance is paying for the media advertisements. However, the main problem that is affecting the world today in matters relating to politics is that the campaign funding especially in the presidential election is used in the wrong way. For example in presidential campaign, various questions emerged concerning the amount of money and how it was spent during the campaign. One of these questions include why Obama rejected the $84 million that he was granted for his presidential campaigns. May be the main reason that contributed Obama not to accept the grant was to disassociate himself with the wrong usage of the funding. Some of the main problems that were associated with usage of money in the 2008 presidential campaign seem to have broken the image of funding system. This is because the raising of the funding appears to have personal interest of the candidates rather than the desired intention of using the money.

             The issue of presidential candidates tending to raise the campaign funding for the wrong reasons is depicted in the ongoing 2012 campaign. President Obama is so far one of the best candidate who have managed to raise a considerable amount of funding. He is leading other potential candidates in a significant amount of money. However, one of the main issues relating to the funding is how the politicians will spend the raised amount in a considerable way. On his side, one of the potentials presidential candidates, Ron Paul, says that he will advocate for the right usage of the campaign funding. He says that he will campaign for the money nit to be used for other purposes than the intended ones like supporting abortion. Moreover, Ron Paul says that the campaign funding should not be used for various family planned programs. Paul is a physician by profession who strongly campaigns against abortions. His views is a clear indication that some of the politicians always have the intention of using the campaign funding for other purposes that are against the will of the majority.

              The American law states that all potential candidates are obliged to file the campaign finance in order to show how the funding is being used. All the information about the funding is normally released to the public in order they can get a view of how the amount was spent. However, it is evident that some of the candidates fail to disclosure all the amount of the funding. This raises questions on how the amount of money raised during the funding was used. Failure to offer information on the usage of the funding is a clear indication that some of the politicians tend to use the money in various ways other than the intended purpose.

              The presidential campaigns attract usage of huge amount of money. According to the above information, it is clear that all this money comes from the public funding. This means that the public tend to contribute much in the primary and general elections. However, even the private sectors also tend to contribute much in the funding of the campaigns. The funding also translates that a lot of taxpayers’ money is spent. Many scholars argue that the wrong usage of the funding contributes to inflation. This was evident during the 2008 presidential campaign where after the elections America went under a hard financial situation. The same issue seems to repeat after this year’s election. This is the main reason why the public should care and be concerned over this issue. This is because the public is actively contributing for the campaign. This evident because within the last few months, the top leading potential candidates have managed to raise a considerable amount of money compared to the last campaign period.

                In order to end the problem of politicians using the funding money in the wrong way, various measures ought to be considered. Most of these measures relate to the public funding system. Many of the politicians strongly depend on this system for the finances that emerge during this period. Some of the politicians who prefer staying out the system end up facing financial hardships after the election is over. For example, in 2008 campaign, McCain preferred staying out of the system where he used his own money. The consequence of this option was that he ended up being broke. This means that because many politicians prefer using the system for the fear of the unknown after the elections, various measures ought to be undertaken in order to prevent the wrong usage of the provided amount. One of these measures as indicated earlier in this paper is that all potential candidates should stay away from the allocating the usage of the funding. Special committees of which the candidates do not have personal interests should be set in order to take care of the necessary allocation. This means that the candidates should not in any way influence the usage the funding.