THE COST OF VICTORY: A report from the
Center for Responsive Politics shows that while you can't actually guarantee that you can simply buy your victory in the US, you can have a pretty high level of certainty that the polls will work like an auction, not an election:
In 96 percent of House races and 91 percent of Senate races that had been decided by mid-day today, the candidate who spent the most money won, according to a post-election analysis by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The findings are based on figures reported Oct. 13 to the Federal Election Commission.
The biggest spender was victorious in 413 of 432 decided House races and 31 of 34 decided Senate races. On Election Day 2002, top spenders won 95 percent of House races and 76 percent of Senate races.