Presidential campaign loot

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“Anybody who wants to be an ambassador must at least give $250,000.” — Richard Nixon’s price check to his Chief of Staff on campaign donations.

This year’s U.S. presidential campaign fundraising is expected to double the record-breaking $1 billion presi­ dential campaign haul of 2008. Everything has its price under capitalism, including democracy.

The campaign is unfolding under the shadow of the game-changing 2010 Supreme Court decision in “Citi­ zens United vs. the Federal Election Commission,” which upheld the “free speech” rights of unlimited, secret corpo­ rate campaign donations.

The result has been virtually unrestricted campaign funding of political campaign organizations known as Political Action Committees (PACs), now re-configured as “super-PACs.” Seldom invoking the moral deprav­ ity of the Watergate crimes, when the Nixon administra­ tion used secret campaign funds to finance the Watergate break-in on Democratic headquarters, the corporate me­ dia ignores the mass outrage that led to so-called Con­ gressional “campaign reform,” now largely overturned, along with a century of previous reforms (see Mother Jones, July/August, 2012)

For the last three summer vacations, Barack Obama and family stayed on Martha’s Vineyard, near Cape Cod, Mass., a prime vacation destination for the 1% elite. But not this year! Obama says he is with “Main Street,” the 99%. Yeah, sure. But neither will Mitt Romney likely be at his New Hampshire vacation estate much, after being stung with revelations that his Bain Capital associates slashed jobs for maximum profit.

Republican millionaire Mitt Romney and the Obama camp have organized exclusive dinner fundraisers; the most extravagant have taken place in New York and Hol­ lywood, where dinner can set you back $40,000—more than most people see in their entire lifetime. The New York Times wrote that for Romney, there is “a natural bond between him and his top dollar supporters.” Romney’s campaign received $229,000 from his former company, Bain Capital, a brutal job-cutting, slash-andburn investment firm. Bain’s donations went to both par­ ties, though mostly to Romney, but have declined. Nev­ ertheless, since the 2008 election cycle the Democrats have received $1.3 million from Bain, double what Re­ publicans received. Bill Clinton defended Bain against Obama’s hypocritical criticism.

Barack claims 98% of his donations are $250 or less; Mitt says 93% of his donations are small. But both have their billionaires and multi-millionaires. At one Tony Savino / Socialist Action Swept under the rug in this dance between compet­ ing wings of the 1% are attacks on the right to organize unions, dwindling family resources, the deportations of immigrants, attacks on civil liberties, police brutality, and unemployment that hovers above 8%. Real unemployment is actually far higher and at depression levels for By MARTY GOODMAN Susan Walsh / AP (Above) Obama speaks to Business Roundtable in Washington, D.C., on March 6.

(Left) Protest at Obama fundraiser on Jan. 19 in Harlem.

African American and Hispanic youth.

An astounding new study by a Congressional non-partisan research service reveals that the share of the nation’s wealth held by the less affluent half of American households dropped precipitously after the financial crisis, to 1.1 percent. The share of total net worth held by the wealthiest 1 percent was 34.5 percent in 2010. The top 10 percent’s share was 74.5 percent.

Working people have no stake in either candidate.

The unspoken goal of the 1% in this election, or any other election, is to elect someone who can divert the anger of working people into safe channels that do not threaten the obscene wealth of those who own the election process, the workplace, and basically the entire country.

Socialists say: End the wars now! Trillions for jobs, not banks! Full employment at union wages! Cancel the stu­ dent debt! Nationalize the banks, auto industry, and en­ ergy industry—to be run democratically by the workers! Working people need our own fighting labor party. n mate that TV stations will receive as much as $5 billion