If you re an environmentalist, you want to know where Gore and Nader stand on some of these issues. Basically, people do tend to be informed on the stands when the issue is one that they consider important. But there are a lot of issues that the candidates talk about that people don t have opinions on. Targeted tax cuts for a certain group, if you don t fall in that group, you re not going to care that much about such an issue. But if you re running a Silicon Valley firm and you need more computer specialists then you need to allow people, particularly from South Asia, where they seem to have great skills with computers, from India, for example, then you d want them to come to the United States.
Votes are more important.
But money provides the advertising and pays the people who bring other people out to vote. Clearly, if you have a lot of money, up to a certain point, you can do more to get people out to vote. Now money can be a disadvantage if you are tagged as just a rich guy who wants to buy his way in, you can t overcome negative perceptions of your personality. Mr. Huffington couldn t buy his way in, Ross Perot couldn t buy the presidency, even though he spent more money than the major party candidates. What money can buy is recognition.