But for the few seats where Democrats are aggressively trying to knock off a Republican incumbent, the spending argument has also been deployed.
It was a bold, counter-intuitive attempt to turn the tax-and-spend argument in Britain on its head.
Moreover, by committing to tough spending totals, Mr Brown redefines the tax-and-spend argument between the main parties with consequences that are hard to predict.
Much of the Sutra is spent recounting arguments between Vimala-Kirti and the monk disciples about Buddhist doctrine -- disputes which Vimala-Kirti invariably won.
But the fact the treasurer skirts around the whole idea of including hospitals in the tax plan makes one wonder whether his real reason is the political desire to make the "Labor is the tax and spend party" argument in the lead-up to the election.
A good deal of the time was spent parsing the argument put forward last spring in an enthusiastic op-ed that came, surprisingly enough, from the center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, whose Frank Schirrmacher argued that if you just separate Hacks's writings from his politics, you'll find literary achievements worth celebrating.
As the Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta tweeted: "After 17 months and $4.7m spent, their whole argument is about Sid Blumenthal?" Gowdy defended his handling of the hearing, telling the Guardian that he was intentionally taking a deliberate pace: "As you notice, I've been pretty slow with the trigger.
Justice Stephen Breyer, for his part, spent the oral argument fretting over how best to split the difference between the parties and keep the ruling narrow.
If he is true to form, Justice Thomas will spend the arguments as he always does: leaning back in his chair, staring at the ceiling, rubbing his eyes, whispering to Justice Stephen G. Breyer, consulting papers and looking a little irritated and a little bored.
Sadiq Khan, the shadow justice secretary, said: "The energy and time this government is spending on arguments about the HRA shows how completely out of touch it is with the British people who are not interested in cat fights between ministers but how the safety of their communities will be protected after cuts in police budgets which go too far and too fast".
