...Around $240 million was spent in the race between incumbent Republican Joni Ernst and Democrat challenger Theresa Greenfield. Earlier reports indicated the money broke about 60 percent to 40 percent in favor of Greenfield. That $240 million represents about $80 per man, woman and child in Iowa. All of us know, however, Iowans in general are more practical – some say cheaper – than that.
Most of the money came from sources outside the state of Iowa – national political parties and third-party so-called dark money groups that are established as a type of political action group. If you watched television, turned on the radio, read your newspaper, opened your mailbox, streamed Pandora without a subscription, opened a web page – you get the picture – you were bombarded with ads that either demonized or supported a candidate.
Is that a good thing?
Get all of Brad Hicks's weekly On the Side in the Dec. 10 Kossuth County Advance.
