In fact, for all but a handful of incumbents, the election is little more than an annoying formality. Over the past three election cycles, the average House incumbent devoted only about one-quarter of his or her spending to creating, producing and airing television and radio commercials. Many incumbents devote less than 10 percent of their money to communicating with voters through commercials and persuasion mail combined. Roughly one-fourth of all campaign funds are used to pay for offices that never close and the employees who staff them. Candidates spend approximately one out of every six dollars to raise money, and for those who depend heavily on direct-mail solicitations, that figure can soar.
Lawmakers spend campaign funds to entertain constituents who visit Washington.
Some campaign money funds activities that a reasonable person might call lifestyle enhancements, including expensive automobiles. Incumbent House members routinely donate money from their own campaign coffers to other members of Congress, Republican and Democratic party coffers, challengers and open-seat candidates they hope to elect, charities, and various ideological groups. The donations total into the millions each election cycle.