Big spending on the campaign trail causes tidal waves of criticism for wealthy Republican office-seekers. Not so for their Democratic counterparts. When Michael Huffington spent over $ 29 million in California for his 1994 Senate campaign, the media charged him with trying to buy the election. This cash flow does seem immense, but given California’s then 14.7 million voters, Huffington spent $ 2.03 per voter.
Compare that with the megabucks spent this year by Mark Warner, the Virginia Democratic candidate for Senate. Warner shelled out $ 8.3 million for 3.3 million voters. That’s $ 2.50 per voter, but we haven’t heard a peep about Warner’s attempt to “buy the election.”
Yes, Virginia, and yet again, there is such a thing as media bias.
