So Barack Obama has raised nearly as much money as Hillary Clinton, and Mitt Romney came out of nowhere to rack up a huge warchest. This brings up the key issue of our time:

Who cares?

I can understand why people in the political influence biz â€â€? and I guess I’m sorta one of them â€â€? chew at the issue. It’s shop talk to us. But why would normal people give it any thought?

Do you really like Mitt Romney more now that he’s raised more money than Giuliani or McCain? Do you have more respect for Obama after he’s shown he can get people to send him dough?

Maybe we see money as a marker of seriousness. But still, ideas are more important, and the more we obsess about the marker, the less chance for actual ideas to hit the mark.

True, if you can’t raise money you aren’t going to get elected. But still, I don’t like Romney or Obama more now that they’re rolling in dough. Do you? Really?

Some people worry about all this money in politics. But it’s not the money we spend on politicians that matters so much as our money they take from us to spend (supposedly) on us. As economist Steven Levitt wrote in Freakonomics, the amount of money Americans give to candidates at every level is about the same amount we spend on gum.

Now that’s something to chew on.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.