After all, the government, backed by rich supporters, had pumped up support for the vote, even as it snuffed out dissent, arresting a handful of activists who dared put up "no" posters.
Mr. Edwards on Friday pleaded not guilty to the charges laid out in the indictment, which describes a scheme in which Mr. Edwards in 2007 sought nearly a million dollars from two rich supporters, Rachel Mellon and Fred Baron, in order to keep Mr. Edwards's pregnant mistress, Rielle Hunter, quietly supported and out of sight as he campaigned for the presidency.
Even so, Lee only managed to complete thanks to loans from rich supporters, including Bill Cosby and Oprah Winfrey.
That's one thing I don't have to worry about this year: rich supporters making asses of themselves.
This would be a clever move because, if Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne opposed it, they might look like those very "same old Tories" defending their rich supporters.
Obama's campaign manager, Jim Messina, in an email to supporters on Wednesdasy appealing for donations, warned about the spending power of the Republicans and their rich supporters.
Whereas a campaign finance system in which it only takes a few rich supporters to make a candidate competitive is a system that may ultimately be more open, not less, to outsiders and insurgents and populists of all stripes.
Unlike other terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda in Iraq, IS largely funds itself rather than relying on rich supporters (despite various versions of a conspiracy theory in the region that America, Iran or Israel bankrolls the group).
Instead, he threw a lavish and exclusive Election Night bash for a small throng of rich supporters and power brokers at Fouquet's, a swank brasserie on the Champs-Élysées.
The favoured approach was to tap rich supporters for loans that, thanks to a loophole in the law, did not have to be declared or the identity of the lenders revealed.
