Inside The Americas - US Campaign Spending

In-depth reports and analysis from our extensive network of correspondents throughout the region on the most important developments in Latin America. Tuesday's mid-term elections in the United States have re-ignited the debate on campaign spending limits and transparency. For many "all the democracy money can buy" raises the question of just how free are free elections. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, campaign spending was a whopping US$3.7 billion for these mid-term elections alone. The US Supreme Court decision in 2010 Citizens United opened the door for corporations and special interest groups to spend unlimited amounts of money and there's no requirement to report what's spent and by whom. What's clear is that an increasingly smaller handful of wealthy donors are writing increasingly larger checks. teleSUR