[BITList] madness

[CT's]

The madness that is american politics
      ct
      Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina claimed they wanted to help the world by dipping their toes into politics—but their failed races were mostly about ego. How could they have better spent a combined $217 million? How about college tuition for 23,000? Or school lunches for 15 million? The Daily Beast’s Gail Sheehy crunches the numbers.

      In a year that broke all the records for money spent on campaigns, some candidates threw away enough of their own wealth to make even Mayor Bloomberg blush. Take Jeff Greene, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Florida, who spent $23,808,789, with only about $4,000 coming from outside contributions. Each of the 284,948 votes cast in his favor cost $83.55.

      Then there are the women. This election was really a tale of three little girls who grew up to make so much money, they didn’t know what to do with it. Between Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, and Linda McMahon, they gave $217 million to the “cause” of getting themselves elected as national political leaders.

       AP Photo (2) 
      Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, and Linda McMahon were anointed Tea Party favorites by Sarah Palin. And Mama Grizzly has laid down the conservative scenario for women who want to capitalize on their national fame to pose as political revolutionaries, pledging to save the citizens of their states from an unemployment sinkhole and their children from educational dead ends.

      Whitman spent $143.6 million of her own billions during her unsuccessful run for governor of California. California Watch tallies her expenditures at more than $160 million, and the group says that number could rise by the time the last month of campaigning is tallied. Using the official expenditure number, each of the 3,748,669 votes cast in the former eBay CEO’s favor cost $38.32.

      Fiorina spent $16.7 million during her unsuccessful run for senator of California, according to the most recent official records, including more than $5.5 million of her own money.
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