IT WAS worse than a bad hair day for presidential candidate John Edwards when he was taped recently fussing over his mane for a good two minutes.
The video of him checking his hair using a compact mirror and then having it fixed and teased is now on YouTube for posterity to the tune of I Feel Pretty from West Side Story.
The Democrat, caught unawares on camera while preparing for an interview, conceded later that he was embarrassed by it.
The press here loves to keep tabs on the number of times the YouTube posting has been viewed (almost 481,000 hits as of yesterday morning).
But more excruciating was perhaps the news that he spent US$800 (RM2,700) for two haircuts in Beverly Hills.
Rather inappropriate, they say, of Edwards, who “speaks out” for the working class.
The haircut bills emerged in campaign expenditure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
The US election system has in place a very transparent system for monitoring the cash flow of presidential candidates.
The candidates' quarterly financial reports will disclose the amount they spend on things like TV advertising, hotels, staff payroll and fund-raising phone calls in the race to the White House.
For instance, in his campaign, Rudy Giuliani, the “America’s mayor,” ran up hotel bills totalling US$48,500 (RM165,870) over three months.
The reports also state how much campaign money the candidates have in the bank.
Hillary Clinton has raised US$26mil (RM88.9mil); Barack Obama, US$25mil (RM85.4mil); Mitt Romney, US$21mil (RM71.8mil); John McCain, US$12.5mil (RM42.7mil); and Giuliani, US$13.8mil (RM47.1mil).
News reports have pointed out that some of the candidates have raised three times the amount of any contender in the previous White House bid in the campaign so far, although such large amounts are no indicator of the eventual outcome.
The quarterly reports offer a first hand look at how the candidates are rushing to fill their war chest. And, come next year, contenders will be required to submit monthly financial reports.
Indeed, the 2008 bid for the Oval Office is shaping up to be a billion dollar race.
As Washington political lawyer Ben Ginsberg explained, no incumbent is running for election, so the race is wide open.
“It is also the first time that all leading candidates are using private money instead of depending on public matching funds,” he said in a briefing for foreign journalists.
Without public financing being involved, there is no limit on their spending.
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, an associate counsel with Brennan Centre for Justice, a non-partisan organisation which advocates changes to campaign finance laws, cited another factor: “New York and California have moved their primaries up to Feb 5 and 18 next year; other states may do the same.
“This requires candidates to run campaigns simultaneously in the most expensive media markets, which requires millions of dollars. All these forces are creating a perfect storm, pushing candidates towards the most expensive presidential season ever.”
She believes reforms to the law are needed.
“For many Americans, campaign contributions are a luxury they cannot afford. For others at the higher end of the economic spectrum, contributions are a cost of doing business,” she added.
“But as a democracy, we need to ensure that politicians are not bought like commodities and that voters have faith that their elected officials will make policy choices based on the good of the people and not just the good of their political benefactors.”
Donors are allowed to give up US$2,300 (RM7,866). There are also the “bundlers” who are allowed to gather US$2,300 cheques from their friends and business associates.
Individuals may also give a maximum of US$28,500 (RM97,470) to a political party.
Unions, foreign nationals or government contractors are prohibited from contributing.
It is quite a transparent system, particularly for the entities that are required to report their finances.
“One growing problem is the formation of non-profits who have no current duty to report under the campaign finance laws,” Torres-Spelliscy said.
Nevertheless, there are lessons from the American experience, said Azman Azham, a committee member of Umno Club New York-Connecticut.
“Back home, we don’t even know where the candidates’ money come from.”
