"If I had a million dollars, I'd help somebody."

That's what Diablo Cody said when, at the news conference after winning the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, she was asked about the kerfuffle days before between her and some shoe designer who apparently tried to get her to wear a pair of million-dollar pumps to the ceremony. (Or, at least, this is what I remember Diablo saying. It was late, and I was "tired"--i.e., substabtially hammered. Plus, my memory can be something of a puzzle; sometimes I can remember incidents in detail--usually something most sane individuals would actively work to forget--while other times I can't recall what I had for breakfast that morning.)

Those words came back to me this morning when I read that Barack Obama's presidential campaign had raised $40 million in the month of March.

Try and wrap your brain around that figure. Go ahead. I can wait.

[Hums "Final Jeopardy" theme.]

You back? How'd it go? If you were able to get your gray matter 'round that number at all, it was no doubt with great difficulty. Now try this: Obama's campaign raised around $55 million in February. That's $95 million over two months.

Imagine all the wonders one could work with $95 million. Meals for the hungry. Insurance for those without. Medical care for the elderly or for injured soldiers returning from Iraq and Afganistan. More/better equipment for soldiers headed off to those war zones. Infrastructure improvements. State-of-the-art computer hardware and software for our schools. Job training programs. Shelters for the homeless. Medical research.

Instead, that $95 million (and a lot more cash beyond that) will be spent on travel arrangements, hotel accommodations, staff, mailings, TV and radio commercials, and thousands of other things.

I'm not criticizing Senator Obama. He and his campaign are doing what they have to do, and unfortunately you have to raise obscene amounts of money to run for any elected office these days. Even local aldermanic battles can cost millions of dollars to wage. And everything, from gas to bread to chocolate, is more expensive these days.

Still, it hurts my head--and my heart--to think about that money.

"If I had a million dollars, I'd help somebody," she said. So would I. So would most of you.

But $95 million? And, actually, much more than that, if you consider how long this campaign has been, how long it has to go, and how many candidates there have been beyond the three who remain as of this writing? How many people's lives could be at the very least improved, if not permanently changed for the better, by that money? Will we look back on this election four years from now, when everything will cost that much more, and wonder exactly the same thing and be all the sadder for it?