NPR: Money Makes the Political World Go Around

Money Makes the Political World Go Around

It's all about the Benjamins.

A political campaign, that is. No candidate who is seriously considering a run for the president (or almost any other political office these days) can hope to compete if he or she can't find the money to back that ambition. Recently, for instance, there has been speculation in the media that Mike Huckabee, who has surged in the polls in Iowa and South Carolina, needs to find more money or else he won't be able to capitalize on possible early successes in later primaries.

NPR's Peter Overby reports for All Things Considered on how this search for money, and then how that money is used, is rippling through this year's presidential races. For instance, Mitt Romney's Commonwealth PAC and Barack Obama's Hope Fund are examples of how candidates can use so called "leadership PACs" to make "friendly gestures" by giving money to candidates in federal or state races — particularly in states where there just happen to be important presidential primaries. And since these leadership PACS are not officially part of the candidate's campaign, there are fewer restrictions on the way they raise money.

And as Ed Bender, director of the National Institute on Money in State Politics, told Peter all this money distributed by candidates is meant to "start a conversation."

Just more proof that, not only does money talk, but in a presidential year it helps get others talking as well.

10:10 AM ET | 12-12-2007 | permalink

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