Rant 10 - Presidential Campaign

So I was Listening to NPR this morning and they were discussing the money that would be needed for the candidates to even be considered as possibilities. The interview was with Hillary Clinton's
campaign chair, Former Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe, he was the Party Chairman during Bill Clinton's administration.
Any way, McAuliff stated that to be even a minor contender that one would have to raise $35,000,000 this year; this number does not include the money needed for 2008!. How can any independent seriously make an attempt to run for the presidency when you need that sort of cash flow? It just somehow doesn't seem right does it? Our government is supposed to, be of the people, by the people, and for the people. How can that be when a minority "of the people" have so much of the money? There are those of you that will argue that anyone can raise money for a campaign, but you have to keep in mind the old adage "you have to spend money to make money". Without a large source of income or winning the lottery how is the average US citizen supposed to procure large sums of cash needed to to get a campaign rolling? Sure, there are plenty of people that run for an elected office without any money but how many actually win? You often hear about the underdog candidate on the news but the story is always presented with such a folksy tone that no-one ends up taking the candidate seriously. Recently Texas had its election for Governor. There were four candidates each with varying amounts in their campaign funds, and the winner was the one with the most money. I should also mention that Rick Perry who was the winner, was not really wanted as the governor but because the rest of the votes were so split between the other guys, he won. Well this is all just an exercise in futility for me because I can never be president anyway.