Random Thoughts, Notes, & Incidents

Money may not buy you love, but it certainly can buy you a city. The final campaign spending data has been released on Mike Bloomberg's successful bid for Mayor of New York. All previous spending records were smashed by his $69 million spent - or about $92 per vote - nearly all out of his own deep pockets.

For comparison: Bloomberg's opponent, Mark Green, "only" spent $14 million to come in a close second. In 1992 Ross Perot spent a total of $62 million on his failed presidential bid. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rick Lazio combined spent $69 million in their battle for New York's Senate seat last year.

During the campaign, Bloomberg fed the media the standard rich-guy candidate line of, "If somebody wants to go out and take their own money to try to make the world a better place, I can only tell you my hat is off to them." Critics, such as Common Cause, however, contend that, "wealthy candidates fuel the campaign money race, create cynicism among the young and make it difficult for less affluent candidates to win races."