Irony alert UPDATE. Guy who spent more than $50 million to buy himself a U.S. Senate seat opines on how bad things are there

Washington Post, 2/1/2019

Original 12/10/2018 post, "Clearly, Rick Scott has way more money than he knows what to do with", starts here.

He digs deep to buy himself a U.S. Senate seat in Florida.

Source:  Center for Responsive Politics

'Whatever I can to win': Rick Scott spent record $63.6 million of his own money to win a Florida Senate seat.  (USA Today, 12/10/2018)

For some reason, the USA Today and CRP figures, both stratospheric, don't agree.  From the 1998 election cycle through 2018, 283 candidates for the House and Senate gave or loaned themselves at least $1 million, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign finance data. 

Most reached into their own wallets and pocketbooks for the bulk of their money, providing about seven of every 10 dollars they raised for their campaigns, according to the center. 

Of those, only 50 won (32 House and 18 Senate), or fewer than one in five.

That trend held in 2018.

For example, Kathaleen Wall received 12,524 votes in a 6-way Texas 2nd congressional district primary.  In other words, each vote cost her $492.63.

Similarly, Paul Kerr received 8,099 votes in a 16-way primary in the California 49th congressional district, at a cost of 730.06 per vote.

Crazy!