However, many of the key battles which determine the struggle over big money are not fought in the open. They concern issues such as tort reform and financial deregulation, which sound obscure and tedious, but which represent billions of dollars to both parties' financial backers. The story is often told of how George W Bush came almost out of nowhere to win the Texas governorship in 1994 from a popular Democratic incumbent, Anne Richards. But it had a lot to do with one campaign pledge. True to his word, he signed a string of tort reform bills in his first few weeks in office.
Tort reform means making it harder for consumers to sue large corporations.
If he becomes president, Bush and his backers mean to put industries such as tobacco, guns, oil and medicine far beyond the reach of the lawsuits which have had the corporations pinned down in the courts for years. The Bush tort reform proposals would limit victims' rights of access to the court system and cap the amount of damages they could be awarded if they did manage to bring a case to court. The effect in Texas was dramatic. Mr Bush's tort reform pledge flooded his 1994 campaign with corporate funds, and is doing the same now. It is bringing in cash from almost every corporate sector which feels vulnerable to the US people's litigious instincts - financial services, insurance, tobacco, pharmaceuticals and oil, the list is endless and explains the Republican candidate's extraordinary lead in the money stakes.