Buying votes

Yikes. Somehow, the relatively modest amounts being spent on little ole Allen County races seem more startling to me than the millions and millions spend on national campaigns. Incumbent County Commissioenrs Marla Irving and Linda Bloom have raised $158,631 and $109,339 respectively, and Marla's challenger, Bill Brown, has raised $72,231. The most astonishing race of all is for sheriff. Republican Ken Fries has raised $80,295, more than his three competitors combined. But get this: Democrat Tina Taviano has raised even more than Ken -- $96,446. A Democrat hasn't  won the sheriff's race in the last, oh, seven decades, so it would be an understatement to say Tina's quest is a long shot. Yet she has been able to raise almost $100,000. I can't even begin to say what that means.

It will be interesting to see the correlation between spending and success. Irving, for example, is spending much more than Brown, but that is seen as just about the closest race on the ballot. In the 80th District, Geoff Paddock has raised more than GiaQuinta, but most observers say GiaQuinta is comfortably ahead with primary voters.

In 1999, Graham Richard and Linda Buskirk between them spent more than $1 million in the mayor's race. In 2003, it was up to $1.8 million, with Richard becoming fhe first person to raise and spend more than $1 million to seek the maor's office. Can you imagine what the mayor's race next year is going to cost? I think it's pretty safe to predict that campaign spending will be one of the big issues.