Warning on 2008 Presidential Election
Interesting oped article yesterday by Rodney Smith, who is the author of a new book on the effects of campaign finance reform.
Excerpt:The great folly of campaign finance reform is the ill-conceived belief government can control the flow of money into elections without also substantially dictating winners and losers. Rather than purging politics of big money, these laws have muted the voice of democracy and threatened its very foundation.
The truth is that Free Speech is not free. Without money, candidates are speechless. During the 2008 presidential primary process we are certain to see otherwise well-qualified candidates drop out for lack of money. In fact, because of the severe contribution restrictions, many contenders may never even try.
Theoretically, presidential primaries are national debates about important public policy issues. But it takes money to participate. By elevating both personal wealth and mass fund-raising prowess as the most important credentials in the presidential nomination process, the anomalies of campaign finance reform narrow the field and silence many contenders.
Back in 1968, in a write-in campaign during the New Hampshire presidential primary, Sen. Eugene McCarthy got 41 percent of the vote and President Lyndon Johnson got 49 percent. Three weeks later, Johnson dropped out of the race. McCarthy's underdog challenge to an incumbent president depended totally on a few large contributions. Given the harsh reality of campaign finance reform, there can never again be an event of such historical importance unless a candidate either has a huge proven donor base or significant personal wealth.
Consider: For the first five full presidential primaries under campaign finance reform (1980, '84, '88, '92 and '96) the federal matching funds process created by reform clearly demonstrated it strongly favored candidates with proven fund-raising ability because the nominee for both major parties in each election was always the person who raised the most in matching funds the year preceding the election.
