Game of millionaires — US election not for the poor

It’s election season again in the United States. Although election posters and campaign signs have yet to occupy the lawns and street corners of America, the battle for money, a mainstay of the electoral process, is well underway.

While Americans like to think of their democracy as a great equaliser where anyone can run for high office, it is no game for men of little means and weak connections. Running for president of the United States is, in fact, a game for millionaires. Both President Barack Obama and his rival, Mitt Romney, are Harvard educated millionaires.