Washington Post Associate Editor and Senior Correspondent Robert Kaiser has monitored American politics for nearly half a century. His book, So Damn Much Money: The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government, brings a true insider’s perspective to the examination of the historic growth of the power of special interests during the past 50 years. Kaiser describes how lobbyists grasped politicians’ all-consuming and ever-increasing need to raise money in a time that has seen the cost of the average Senate campaign explode from the $400,000 to nearly $8 million. Lobbyists and politicians have created a mutually beneficial, mutually reinforcing relationship that has led our political system to ignore major problems such as health care, global warming, and the looming crises for Medicare and Social Security.