1458 Days / 208 Weeks / $500 million

The next Presidential election will take place November 4th, 2008. That's only 1458 days from today. Seems like a lifetime, and if this year made anyone feel old just waiting for last Tuesday's election, doing a daily countdown to November 4th, 2008 might seem like an eternity from now.

But I suspect many people will be doing so anyway, and this blog will be keeping a running count.

Now is as good a time as any to begin preparing for the next election. One way to do so would be to consider starting a mini savings account for contributions. It would not be a stretch to believe that 2.5 million fervent supporters couldn't be convinced to save $1 a week for the next 4 years. That's pocket change - literally. If that many people simply took the pennies in change they accumulated every week, but no more than $1 worth, by September 2008 they would have amassed $500 million!!

$500 million from pocket change!

$500 million could finance a very healthy Presidential election campaign, as much as any campaign in 2004 was able to gather together.

The beauty of this simple math is that without much effort a viable third party candidacy could be financed.

Of course $500 million could fund a lot of other worthwhile endeavors, but the point is how little it would take to accumulate so much money and clout.

If you want to start preparing for the next election, consider the nickles and dimes you toss into your coin jar at the end of each day. It adds new meaning to the phrase a penny for your thoughts.