Testing the Waters

I don’t know why Presidential contenders say they are testing the waters or exploring a run for the high office. Either you throw your hat into the proverbial ring or you don’t.

I expect testing the waters lets a potential candidate see if he or she can raise enough money to make the run viable. Unfortunately the cost of running for President prohibits a number of qualified candidates.

I still think we need federal financed Presidential elections and at the same time cut the PAC contributions, especially the silent ones. If you cut one B-1 bomber or slash 1% off of every piece of pork a congressman adds to any bill you could finance the election every four years.

Give every candidate who declares to run an equal amount of pre-determined money. But first, any candidate who thinks of running must get a certain number of valid signatures from each state in order to qualify for the federal funds. It should be a reasonable number, just enough to give legitimacy to the candidacy and high enough to keep the ego-politicians away.

I guess that would eliminate just about every member of congress. Maybe its time for a non-political President, if that's possible.