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Old 09-27-2004, 02:34 PM   #23
russotto
Professor
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,788
All right

#1: Compulsory voting. OK, you're dragging the most apathetic and lazy people out to vote. They don't know nor care about the issues. They turn off campaign ads. Who are they most likely to vote for? A certain percentage, whoever has a (D) after their name. Another percentage (about the same), an (R). And some percentage, whatever name is most familiar. Which means the incumbent.

#2: Eliminating soft money. Besides the free speech issues (which the Supreme Court derided last time around), the incumbent, being the incumbent, already has an advantage at fund-raising and can do better even with equal funds. By eliminating abilities for his challengers to outspend him, you protect the incumbent.

#3: Eliminating mass media advertising. OK, who has the best access to mass media without advertising? The incumbent, that's who.

#4: Shortening the campaign season --- but the incumbent can do all sorts of things in the course of his job that amount to campaigning.
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