Are local elections local?

hey real life,
Who are 'qualified persons'? What does that mean?

Like the way Tom DeLay siphoned money off from everywhere to pack the TX legislature?

Keep in mind, the greater amount of funding for local campaigns comes from the candidate themselves, money will be spent supplementally if there is a need.

Fedral wrote:

Keep in mind, the greater amount of funding for local campaigns comes from the candidate themselves, money will be spent supplementally if there is a need.

I think this misses the original point though. In your case it might be true that the candidates fund most of the cost themselves but that certainly isn't always the case.

If the major parties decide that a race is important enough they'll funnel huge amounts of money into them. They do this for the mayor's races in most major cities and all of the Congressional races. Hillary isn't running those fund raisers in CA for no reason (and neither is any other Senator or Representative!).

I agree with real_life that "much of the money that some candidates raise to get themselves elected often comes from outside of the geographic area which they are supposed to represent" and it sucks. True campaign reform should, IMO, prohibit candidates from rasing or accepting funds from outside of the distract they are running in.

Who spends the money is a separate issue.

What I have addressed is the origin of the money.

When , for example, a congressman from a Midwestern state receives 65-80% of his campaign funds from states such as New York, Florida, Massachusetts and California then the question is: Would his candidacy have been viable if he had to rely on support from his constituents instead of outsiders?

It would seem that the richer states are buying elections in the poorer states.

real life wrote:

Who spends the money is a separate issue.

What I have addressed is the origin of the money.

When , for example, a congressman from a Midwestern state receives 65-80% of his campaign funds from states such as New York, Florida, Massachusetts and California then the question is: Would his candidacy have been viable if he had to rely on support from his constituents instead of outsiders?

It would seem that the richer states are buying elections in the poorer states.

It doesn't work like that real life.

Money is donated by Party members in many states to the National Party.

Then the Party will send the money out to the various states as needed for the best of the Party.

We here in Florida got money from the National Party, no one said.
"This 200,000" was donated by New York and this 100,000 was from Texas."
Thats not how it works. The bills don't come with little messages like.
"This money is from Pennsylvania, now listen to us."

Money flows up to the National Party and then back down to the Local Party. The original origins of the money are irrelavant.

....................In some smaller states, party fundraisers went well beyond state lines to find contributors. The national fundraising networks that have been built by political professionals over the past 25 years have paid off for state parties, especially for states that may not have a lot of homegrown wealth. Outside money became a major factor in small states that hosted major races in 2002, including New Hampshire, South Dakota and Arkansas.

Both major party committees in New Hampshire raised at least 95 percent of their contributions from outside the state, records show. The Democratic State Committee brought in $11.4 million from beyond New Hampshire, while the state GOP's total of outside money was $8.6 million. In fact, all of the state party committees that raised more than 90 percent of their funds from outside state lines are located in less-populated states: in addition to New Hampshire and South Dakota, Rhode Island, Mississippi and Arkansas saw one or more party committee get at least nine of every 10 dollars from beyond its borders. Much of the outside money came in the form of national party donations.

Georgia's Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, a legislative caucus organization, had the highest percentage of outside money among committees that raised at least $100,000: 98.5 percent. The committee received exactly three contributions from donors within Georgia, totaling $47,368, while it took in nearly $3.1 million from Florida, New York, Texas and Washington, D.C.

Considering only individual donors, the percentage of out of state money drops sharply for many committees. Still, people residing outside New Hampshire accounted for 63 percent of all individual contributions to that state's Democratic Party during 2001 and 2002, and Idaho's Democratic Party got 76 percent of its total individual donations from people listing addresses outside Idaho in the same period.

Contributors of $100,000 or more to State Party Organizations in the 2000 Election Cycle

1. Steven T. Kirsch* - $2.1 million
Kirsch founded Mouse Systems in 1982 and Frame Technology in 1986 before launching Infoseek, an Internet navigation service. After selling the company to Disney in 1999, Kirsch started a new e-commerce company called Propel. He and his wife Michele, a law school student, have set records for charitable giving: they are but a handful of donors younger than 50 who rank among the nation's 100 most generous philanthropists, as measured by lifetime giving. Kirsch divided his contributions among Democratic party committees in 10 states.

2. S. Daniel Abraham - $1.3 million
His sale of Slim Fast Foods to Unilever last year rocketed him onto the Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest people in America. He had also recently sold his interest in the pharmaceutical company Thompson Medical for a reported profit of $200 million. Forbes estimates his net worth at $1.8 billion. A long-time Democratic giver, Abraham gave $1.5 million to the party and is ranked as the No. 1 contributor of soft money to the national parties. He gave to Democratic party committees in 19 states.

3. Bernard Daines - $1.1 million
The CEO of Worldwide Packets, a hardware developer for Internet connections. In the early 1990s, Daines founded ethernet companies Packet Engines and Grand Junction Networks both later sold for $675 million. Daines's $550,000 debut contribution found its way to the Republican National Committee. He also donated another $500,000 to local GOP candidates in his home state of Washington, and contributed the rest to Republican party committees in four other states.

4. Donald J. Carter - $700,000
A top GOP contributor, from 1998 to 2000 Carter gave $307,250 to the Republican Party, including a $250,000 contribution to the Republican National State Elections Committee. Carter is a top executive at Home Interiors & Gifts, Inc., a Dallas based company that makes decorating accessories. He gave to Republican party committees in nine states...................

My question to real life would be-
"Are the people in various states violating a law when they pour money into numerous campaigns in other states"?

You bet I sent Rudy Guiliani a healthy contribution when he was running against Hillary Rodham Clinton just before he left the field because of illness. It is my right to contribute to those who will defeat or attempt to defeat candidates I judge to me detrimental to my rights and interests even if they are from other states.

I am sure that Grover Nordquist would agree.

This is still America and the McCain/Feingold travesty not withstanding. It is my right to contribute to any candidate that I see fit, if I have an interest in that candidate.

I live in Florida, but if I saw a Representative from Montana was running and he was a strong supporter of 2nd Amendment Rights, you can bet dollars to doughnuts that I would grab my checkbook and write out a donation.

Will he then be MY Representative in Congress? No

Will he be in Congress supporting legislation that I find very important? Yup

Is it possible that he might support legislation that you find favorable over the objections of a majority of his own constituents? Yep. Should said constituents be pissed? Yep.