I was talking to my roofer the other day, and we lightly touched on politics.

[Jackpine Radical]

I told him a good rule of thumb for deciding how to vote is to ignore the contents of the ads and just count how many you see for each candidate, and then vote for the candidate who has the fewer ads, because that person is the one who is not backed by the corporations.

Then, of course, it occurred to me that if everyone followed that rule, the schizophrenic black guy whose name doesn't come to mind at the moment would probably be our President.

[maxsolomon]

1. well,

the rent IS too damn high.

[Logical]

2. Cleared up! n-t

[Angry Dragon]

4. Alvin Greene - SC

[Logical]

6. OK, that makes sense. n-t

[JVS]

7. No. Lee Mercer Jr.

http://www.mercerforpresident2008.com/c14f7f9dd9bbed555232a5cb8defd6f7.html

[Boojatta]

9. Good work!

Now please provide a link to an article about obscure and/or fringe parties and candidates that is comprehensive enough to include not only fringe parties that get more votes than most fringe parties, but also Lee Mercer Jr.

[Jackpine Radical]

13. Right. Lee Mercer. That's who I was thinking of.

[Boojatta]

8. He's apparently too obscure to be mentioned in ...

this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_party_%28United_States%29

[Tippy]

3. There are draw backs to everything...(grin)

[PeaceNikki]

5. THE RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH! If you want to marry a shoe, I'd marry you!

lol

[Boojatta]

10. I would like to question some of your unstated assumptions.

A large total advertising budget for a campaign could theoretically be a sum of small contributions from ordinary people. Meanwhile, most of the media is owned by corporations, and those corporations can devote time in broadcasts or space in periodicals to candidates who don't have to pay for the attention. It seems that your rule of thumb might favor candidates who are favored by media.

[Jackpine Radical]

15. "Could theoretically be"

is generally a synonym for "isn't."

[Boojatta]

17. How about the notion that a candidate who gets lots of free and favorable coverage

doesn't need to pay for as much advertising as a candidate who gets little coverage that is both free and favorable?

Also, most of the coverage is provided by for-profit media corporations.

[Jackpine Radical]

19. My rule of thumb could probabaly be expanded

by adding "And note who is getting the best coverage on Fox and vote against that person."

Really, though, my original "rule of thumb" was quite spur-of-the-moment and only meant to describe the situation in recent Wisconsin politics, where Citizens United money has been dumped into our races and totally distorted our politics. That money is a large part of why Feingold lost and Walker got into power.

[Boojatta]

20. .

Really, though, my original "rule of thumb" was quite spur-of-the-moment and only meant to describe the situation in recent Wisconsin politics, where Citizens United money has been dumped into our races and totally distorted our politics. That money is a large part of why Feingold lost and Walker got into power.

You should have told me that the other day when we were talking. However, I must say that it has been my pleasure to do roofing work for you.
;)

[Angry Dragon]

11. Were you thinking of Alvin Greene??

[Zebedeo]

12. Well, Obama sure wouldn't be president

He had a vastly larger advertising budget than McCain. In fact, IIRC, he aired an infomercial, and I think a whole cable channel was turned over to his service in the 2008 campaign.

McCain's ads were few and far between by comparison.

Oh, and FWIW Obama DID receive more money from corporations than McCain did.

[Boojatta]

14. Corporations might donate to a candidate who is expected to win.

One assumption in the OP of this thread seems to be that a candidate is owned by those who donate a lot.

However, governments have a lot of power, incumbents often have an advantage over other candidates, and those who donate a lot can do little more than threaten to refrain from donating in future.

The motive for donating could be to reduce or eliminate bias against the donor rather than to create bias in favor of the donor.

[FormerDittoHead]

16. Yes - Obama outspent McCain almost 2:1 (chart)

[madinmaryland]

18. Lee Mercer, Jr. has already announced his candidacy for the 2012 race.

[Boojatta]

21. Apparently he has powers beyond those of Donald Trump.

[Jackpine Radical]

22. Who could doubt it?