POLITICS is attracting serious money these days.

The current situation in the USA must be interesting to Australians because history says that practically everything that happens in the USA happens here in Australia – usually about five years down the track.

Because artificial intelligence (AI) has been adopted so heavily when it comes to politics, we need to take most things with a grain of salt before we accept it as real.

However, the present reports in relation to Donald Trump’s fundraising to support his tilt at the November presidential election is throwing up some serious numbers.

The recent dinner held in Florida at the home of hedge fund manager John Paulson is said to have raised over US$50 million, which in our money is A$75 million.

It is reported that 100 invited guests from the finance industry plus a casino mogul and some other heavy hitters were addressed by Trump for 45 minutes, and that some of the money raised will be used for Trump’s recent legal fees.

Of interest to many is the fact that the host John Paulson has been suggested by Trump as a potential Treasury Secretary.

Opinion polls now show Biden with 52 percent and Trump with 48 percent of the expected vote.

The polls’ rate of error at just over three percent says it is clearly a very close contest, particularly as voting is not compulsory in the USA.

Recent US elections have struggled to achieve more than 50 percent of potential voters bothering to participate.

Both current candidates and parties are distinctly unpopular, so this could be the case again.

Trump sees benefit in people thinking he is not the favourite to win the election and compares his last month’s donations of $US20.3 million as being far less than Biden’s intake of some US$53 million.

It is still early days however and now that both men are their party’s official candidates, the rush is on to secure as much electoral funding money as possible, as quickly as possible.

The eye-watering sums of money needed by each candidate must surely have people asking why such large amounts are required and what could all that money possibly be used for?

I doubt that the cost of media advertising could be anything like the sums being raised.

I know from experience in Australia that most elections are publicised as being very close and anyone’s game to win.

This then leads to more extravagant spending in the media as a last-minute effort to change voters’ preferences.

This has led to Trump’s 47 Committee, a new fundraising tie-up with the Republican National Committee seeking its senior donors to contribute up to US$814,600 “per person”.

The first US$6600 would be allocated to Trump’s Presidential campaign.

The amount of US$5000 would then be allocated to the Save America Leadership group and the balance spread amongst a raft of Republican state parties for their campaigns.

I’m wondering how many of these willing donors just regard their generosity as a gamble, because if their candidate loses the battle, then surely their expenditure of such large sums will simply be lost.

By John BLACKBOURN