It’s nostalgic to look back on the days when a fellow who wanted to go to Congress could run by making lots of speeches, buying gasoline for his car and printing a few pamphlets and cards. That approach is certainly no longer realistic.
These days, political campaigns require massive spending.
Candidates hope their supporters will contribute, but many hopefuls put in a lot of their own money. It would be better for all of us as citizens — not to mention for the candidates — if aspirants could get their messages to voters without spending so much.
In Tennessee’s 3rd District, we are very fortunate that local voters had the good judgment in November to elect Republican Chuck Fleischmann to be our member of the U.S. House of Representatives. We believe he’ll be a good one. But we are sorry that Fleischmann, an attorney, reportedly had to spend about $1.4 million in his successful campaign — about half of it his own money.
His primary and general election challengers spent considerably less.