Money is the way to get the attention of politicians.
And according to a report yesterday by the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-profit research organization, the country's big airlines spread a lot of it around last year. Well, most of us aren't paying attention to it, but there's a gigantic struggle going on that may determine how much you pay for airline tickets for years down the road. At issue is how the big airlines treat low-cost competitors. The only places where airfares haven't dropped since deregulation are in those markets less than 750 miles apart where there's no low-fare competition. Consider these stats from a Transportation Department study.