How much money does it cost to win a seat in Congress?
Ellen Miller: A House seat on average costs about $520,000. A Senate seat is $4.6 million. But the cost of elections is only one part of what concerns me about the money and politics issue. More important than what we spend on congressional elections, which will probably be $800 million in this election cycle, is the source of that money — who supplies it, and, more importantly, who doesn’t supply it. MM: How do candidates raise such sums of money? Miller: Certainly not from people like you and me. Most of this money comes from big money sources, a combination of large individual wealthy contributors who write $1,000 checks, and from political action committees (PACs). Those wealthy individuals often come from the very same economic interests as are represented by the political action committees. The vast majority of Americans do not make a campaign contribution at all, much less one at a level of $200 or more. But this big money in politics, along with self-financed candidates, makes
