Election news extravaganza

Yesterday, I posted a story on the insane amounts of money being spent on television advertising for the 2008 elections. Today, I found the numbers for money spent just in the 3rd quarter by several presidential candidates.

I know I sound like ESPN, talking much more about the facts and figures of what people are making and spending than discussing actual issues occurring in the event — in this case the presidential race — but I find it really interesting to conceptualize how much money a candidate actually spends on getting his or her face out there. The up-front costs are pretty insane.

That segues nicely into my second story that deals with political advertising, in which Barack Obama is selling to the religious contingency. I like Obama: he's from Chicago and he seems the closest thing to a decent human being I've seen in politics in this lifetime. Though the article's coverage of this particular event is a little arbitrary, seeing as Obama wasn't there himself, the rest of it paints an intriguing picture of the man as a candidate that is not selling out to a particular religion, but someone that understands its importance to people.

While he's still playing the game, I'm starting to realize (based on the financial numbers quoted above) that all the candidates have to pander to as many people as possible. This might seem like it shouldn't be a new revelation, but I don't think so many people realize this. A lot of voters truly believe that politicians are speaking directly to them as opposed to making blanket statements aimed (ideally) at offending as few people as possible.