Uncommon Commentary #294: Wouldn't You Rather Give to a Poor Person than to a Poor President?

To date, the effort to elect Romney and that to re-enthrone Obama have raised a combined 711 million dollars.  I wonder whether anyone other than I ever thinks about how much good this money would do if it were used for charitable contributions (which are tax-deductible anyway, unlike political donations) instead of being given to presidential campaigns, only one of which can result in victory.