Candidates spending like drunken sailors

How much is too much? With more than three weeks remaining until election day in Wisconsin, candidates for Governor, and the groups that support them, continue to spend money like a drunken sailor on shore leave. Spending in that race by advocacy groups has already topped $11 million. That is more than in past elections, a reflection the race between Scott Walker and Tony Evers is expected to be tight. It is a sickening amount of money being spent trying to sway voters in the state. Just since the August primary, outside spending, money spent by groups other than the candidates themselves, has totaled $9 million on broadcast ads. That figure doesn’t even include spending on so called phony issue ad groups, those which smear or praise candidates without specifically telling people who to vote for. You can’t even fill up your car with gas without being bombarded by political advertising, with Walker buying ads at video-enabled gas pumps. Republicans have a clear advantage on political spending in the governor’s race. Republicans have outspent democrats by nearly two to one. The amount of money being spent statewide by special interest groups has nearly doubled in just the past two weeks. That is a trend likely to continue as the election nears. One can’t help but wonder how else all this money could be spent, other than on campaign ads that no one really likes.