Every election year, our televisions, telephones, newspapers and streets are bombarded with political campaigning. One only has to turn on the television to view a collection of political commercials involving one candidate bashing the other. Campaigning has always been, and will continue to be a very expensive and laborious process. While I do agree with the concept of campaigning, I strongly disagree with the use of millions of dollars for campaigning that could have been used to better our society. Running a winning campaign in today’s society is accomplished by sufficient funding, maintaining positive public perception and retaining a system of committed organizers.
Obtaining sufficient funding during a political campaign is vital to its success. The process starts for each candidate after the end of the previous election. Funding can come from many sources. These include, but are not limited to fundraising, corporate sponsors, interest groups, political action committees (PACs), and Super PACs (Sabato 304). The amount of money acquired from each of these sources varies from hundreds of dollars to millions (“The Power of Money”). PACs have limited fundraising power, but can give money directly to political campaigns. Super PACs have fewer …show more content…
Most often, this is done through the use of mass media. This helps the candidate gain recognition of the people and favorable media coverage. Many television stations air political commercials that either support their candidate or bash the opposing one. New forms of political campaigning in the media include “reliable databases, instantaneous Internet publishing and mass email, social media sites, autodialed pre-recorded messages, and enhanced telecommunications and teleconferences” (Sabato 324). Through these means, a candidate running a political campaign can gain much positive public