Another election lurks around the corner, and we are faced with a choice. On Oct. 19 we will walk into the voting booth and cast our ballots for whom we think should be our next congressman.

But despite having more than 10 people running for the spot, it’s slim pickings.

The favorite from the beginning was Neil Riser. Riser, whose principle piece of legislation in the Louisiana Senate was the gun bill, has had his campaign pounded with accusations of cronyism.

Some of the candidates claim he made a backdoor deal with Rodney Alexander and Gov. Bobby Jindal.

But accusations aside, Riser is a part of a dying breed of Republican candidates. His campaign has focused on “family values,” Obamacare and the same GOP talking points that have been prevalent since Pat Robertson ran for president.

Then there are the dark horses—Henry Herford, Vance McAllister, Jaime Mayo, Marcus Hunter, Jay Morris and all of the other candidates, who will be lucky to get more than a few points in the polls.

McAllister, who has been supported by Duck Commander Phil Robertson, landed in hot water with the “Concordia Sentinel’s” Sam Hannah.

Hannah, who also is the publisher for the “Ouachita Citizen,” came short of outright calling McAllister a liar but gave him a lashing nonetheless in his weekly column.

“Then there are the wannabe politicians who simply are too stupid to know the difference between speaking freely about one’s own thoughts and opinions and outright pandering for a vote,” Hannah said in his column.

Ouch. Somebody get McAllister an ice pack for that burn.

But even with a ripping like that, McAllister is getting more media coverage than the other candidates.

The only press Herford has gotten was a two-second snippet on KNOE and some online articles. The same goes for the other candidates who are lucky if Facebook publishes anything they say. Unfortunately, we find ourselves facing what has become a major problem in American politics.

The candidates with the bigger pocket books are the ones who get heard. Thank you Citizens United.

I’ve been inundated with ads from Riser, Morris and McAllister but have heard very little from any of the other candidates. That’s because ads cost money.

And the candidates who can’t afford to advertise their message would be better served saving their $500 registration fees and not even bothering to run.

Long story short: one of these men will be the next representative for the fifth district. But I haven’t seen anything that goes past talking points and rhetoric. And what little “real talk” that has occurred has come from candidates who stand a snowball’s chance of getting a plane ticket to D.C., let alone elected.

I can’t help but think this is the utmost perversion of the system our founders had planned. The people no longer can simply choose a candidate. We have to choose a pocketbook.