Let’s say you have some extra money in your war chest during your election bid – what do you plan to do with it? Well, if you’re a Michigan lawmaker, you may just be buying pigs for your supporters. Yes, that’s right, pigs. A recent article in The Detroit News details many instances in which incumbent politicians made inane purchases with campaign cash during the past election.

By the time January 2008 rolled around, presidential candidates were already breaking campaign finance records. And by November 4th, they had shattered even more. With so many candidates, so much money, and so much riding on the outcome, campaign contributions were major headlines this year. Below is my list of the top five money and politics stories for 2008 (in no particular order).

As I was checking my Google news alerts this morning, I came across this article from the Arizona Capitol Times highlighting "quotes of the year." One in particular caught my eye.

Last week, I reported on the fact that more Congressional candidates raised over a million dollars than ever before. Well, that's not the only record that was broken in 2008. According to CQ Politics, when added together, these candidates raise over $1 billion-- a nearly 10 percent jump from 2006 numbers.

A federal court on Friday upheld Connecticut's ban on campaign contributions from lobbyists and state contractors, part of a large package of ethics and campaign reform measures passed following the conviction of former Gov. John Rowland.

A few weeks ago, the Center For Responsive Politics released a report showing that winning U.S. House candidates raised an average of $1.1 million in the 2008 cycle. Yesterday, the USA Today shed more light on the story. Here's what their analysis found: