Couldn’t They Donate Their Money Instead?

Couldn’t They Donate Their Money Instead?

There is no doubt the economy is hurting, but you would never know it judging by the record number of Presidential ads you see on television.

That thought was brought home for me last night as my college-aged daughter and I watched the Yankees-Red Sox game instead of the Democratic convention.

(It is not that we are a-political. We both already know who we are going to vote for. And Shannon (a passionate Sox fan) and I (someone who has rooted for the Yankees since I discovered baseball when I was seven back in 1961) have a standing date—complete with pizza and trash talking—whenever the two teams play.)

And what did we see during the ads they run at the end of each half inning? Political ads—an equal number for Obama and McCain.

On one level, of course, that is smart. You want to reach the people who aren’t paying much attention to politics.

But on another, it just reinforces how much money the candidates will be spending. If Obama can afford to run ads during the Democratic convention—which, like both conventions is one vast political ad—you can only image how much money he has raised.

My only thought during the game—other than the Yankees are in serious need of starting pitching—was this:

If both sides donated just 10% of their advertising money to charity, we’d all be better off.