Let's talk politics.

As everyone who's not in a coma knows, today is Election Day. Here in Minnesota we've been enduring a long, drawn-out governor's race as well as one *extremely* high-profile contest for a seat in the US House of Representatives. The House race is said to be the most expensive one ever - something like $15 million dollars has been spent trying to buy one seat in Congress. I have no idea how much was spent, all told, on the governor's race. I know that Target Corporation caused a big hoopla over the summer when they donated $150K to the Republican candidate, and that the Democratic candidate spent a *ton* of his own money. And of course, there are the individuals who make small - and large - campaign contributions.

But let's just talk about the $15 million that has gone into the House race. Think about that for a minute: Fifteen. Million. Dollars. I don't know about you, but in my world, that's one hell of a lot of money.

I don't know enough about financing a campaign to take a stand on McCain-Feingold or any other election law, and I really don't want to debate any issues. But I have to wonder: how far would that $15 million go if it were put to any other cause? How far could a fraction of that money go?

What do the winners of the campaign - to say nothing of the losers - have to show for the money they spent?  The winners get the power, I guess, but the losers? What do they have to show for all of the money they spent? The power is what makes politics so dirty...the whole "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" kind of thing makes me frustrated, but it's the nature of the beast that we've created. Another thing that frustrates me is all the vitriol in political discussions - but I'm digressing; that's another door for another day.

Pick your favorite charity - your church, your local humane society, a women's shelter, a food shelf, a scholarship fund, whatever strikes your fancy. Imagine the impact if they were the recipient of $15 million. Imagine how much good they could do if they received 1/15,000 of that.

I'm not taking a stand here, I'm just tossing out an idea: For the next election, let's give each candidate a cap on how much money can be spent on their campaign. The money can come from anywhere - public or private donations, individual and corporate donors - but no campaign is allowed to go over a certain dollar amount, in contributions OR expenditures. (That dollar amount would be WELL below the $15 million spent here.) This restriction would serve a few purposes:

• Instead of spending substantial amounts of money on political campaigns, corporations could save that money and invest in research and/or jobs
• If a certain campaign has already reached its contribution limit, an individual who wants to make a contribution to *something* can make that contribution to an organization that does some good that's more immediately tangible - think Second Harvest or Feed My Starving Children or a ministry at your church
• Less money = fewer commercials = SHORTER CAMPAIGN SEASON

I have to work in the morning, so unfortunately I can't stay up to find out the outcome of the House race. The big one isn't in my district anyway, so its impact on me is only tangental. Regardless of who wins the race, I'm grateful that mudslinging season is over.

Assuming that we don't have another Coleman / Franken debacle...