We want to believe that after all the preliminaries these first caucus returns in Iowa and first primary votes in New Hampshire are the crucial first judgment on Campaign 2000.
But here is Charles Lewis with the numbers from the Center for Public Integrity in Washington: what shaped this race, he says, was the first auction that ran all of last year, an all-money event that took Dan Quayle, Lamar Alexander and Elizabeth Dole out of the field altogether, and compromised the blue-chip favorites Al Gore and George W. Bush, and tainted even challengers Bradley and McCain who keep raising and spending the big political bucks they deplore.
Lewis says: it will cost the winner a record $200-million to take the White House this year–$200-million in political debts to a corporate alliance for unspoken issues: like tax cuts on business and capital gains.
The money game in Campaign 2000 – in this hour of The Connection.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Charles Lewis