Have the campaigns gone too far with the money?

I admit that I didn't see Obama's 30 minute advertisement last night. In fact, I've already voted, since we can do that here in Florida. However, I wasn't making an effort not to watch it, it is just that me and my family are at church on Wednesday nights, not sitting at home, so I haven't seen it. So, I really don't have anything to say about it one way or the other, at least in regards to the content. If you'd like a little bit of fact checking on the "advertisement", go here and see what the AP had to say. All that said, I think this was an awful waste of money. I know he's trying to win a campaign, but I've already pointed out on this blog that he simply, by refusing public money, has more money than he knows what to do with. When Ross Perot in 1992 bought a 30 minute add to make his proposals, people found it an interesting, but crazy and eccentric, diversion. After all, no Presidential candidate had ever done that before. None have done it since either, until last night. So, this is what unchecked campaign financing will get us. I guarantee, since Obama refused public money, that the next Presidential campaign will have neither candidate taking public money, otherwise the opposition will feel like they can't compete. So, here's what we can expect in four years if Obama wins. I expect that the amount of money raised will approach this astronomical amount for both candidates rather than just one and therefore we could be looking at having 1.5 billion dollars or more available to spend. So, we'll just have to live with our favorite prime time shows being preempted in the future for political commercials that are half hour in length. In fact, they'll probably follow each other. So, we'll have week long coverage of the convention, not to mention a now two year cycle leading up to said conventions, followed by the spending of money like we've never seen before. These 30 minute Obama shows are just the beginning. Wait until four years from now. They'll probably extend to an hour and they'll be back to back with the opposition, so you'll lose an entire night of otherwise entertaining diversions. All I can say is, thank God for cable.