The whole donations thing confuses me completely. I assume the one good thing that did come out of it was the Swiftboat Vetrans as I would think they would be classed as a 527.
The amount of money to me involved in just a senate or congress campaign is unbelieveable compared to what is spent in Britain on the whole general election campaign.
After all there was a row over the PM wife hairdressing bill
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,17129-2144508,00.html
Here are further examples of our election costs which compared to yours to me seem minimal
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4940182.stm