Proposition 87 & Ballot measures & Campaign spending 22 Oct 2006 12:13 pm
Proposition 87: Most expensive campaign in US history?
Forget about California — the Washington Post reports in Friday’s edition that the fight over Proposition 87 may turn out to be the costliest in United States history. The article quotes John Matsusaka, the director of the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California, as saying that the $107 million-plus that’s been spent on the yes and no campaigns thus far is only a little less than half the money ($250 million) spent by both major presidential candidates in the 2004 election.
Meanwhile, the San José Mercury News reports that, according to Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, corporations have shoveled over $255 million into this year’s ballot (mostly to defeat Propositions 86 and 87) — a figure that represents 61% of all expenditures in the election.