Political Advertising

Jesse Unruh, the famous speaker of the California State Assembly in the 1960s, made one of the most quoted statements in American political life: “Money is the mother’s milk of politics.” In his book, Ronnie& Jesse, on Unruh’s relationship with the then California governor, and future president, Ronald Reagan, Lou Cannon says that the statement reflected Unruh’s attitude toward money, “which he saw from beginning to end as the means to power rather than as a political end.” While the political landscape has certainly evolved in ways that Unruh could never have possibly imagined, there is a universal truth to his famous quote. No matter the medium, money is the essential element for accomplishing political goals. While money is the means to many political ends, ...