Parties and Campaign Finance

What role do parties play in these campaigns? Candidates hire partisan professionals to run campaigns In most races, the candidate is on her own In competitive races, the party can spend a lot of money –not always the way the candidate would like Campaign finance laws favor candidate- centered system

Campaign Finance Restrictions on party spending Contributions to candidates Coordinated spending with candidate Independent expenditures in favor of candidate Voter mobilization

Limits on party spending Limit for 2007, per election Contributions to candidates$5000 from state party $5000 natl party to House $35,000 natl party to Senate Coordinated spending with candidate House: $41,000 Senate: $81,000-$2M Independent expenditures in favor of candidate No limit, can’t be coordinated Voter mobilization State and local parties can spend as much as they want, as long as they raise it on their own

Limits on how parties can raise money National party committees can receive $15,000 from PACs per calendar year $25,000 from individuals per calendar year State party committees (that deal with federal elections) can receive $10,000 from an individual Party units can transfer unlimited amounts between themselves

Soft Money Unregulated contributions TO state parties State parties used to be able to use soft money for “party building” activities for federal elections “Issue ads” allowed What was so bad? –federal candidates helped raise it –issue ads advocated for candidates

McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act National parties can only raise money in regulated amounts (Hard money) State parties have to fund activities related to federal elections with hard money (mostly) All “electioneering communications” aired within 60 days of a federal election (or 30 days of a caucus/primary/convention) must be paid for with “hard” money Parties can’t make both coordinated and independent expenditures. Have to choose.

Effects of McCain-Feingold (BCRA) Strange bedfellows in debate Raises the importance of hard money

Advantages of BCRA, 2004? Amount raised from individuals, Amount raised in small increments (<$200) Republican National Committee 350,368,90766,170,884 Democratic National Committee 334,531,23413,809,468

Effects of reforms on parties? Reduce importance to candidates 527 organizations

Top Ten Democratic 527s in 2004 America Coming Together - NonFederal Account79,795,487 Joint Victory Campaign ,811,666 The Media Fund59,404,183 Service Employees International Union Political Education & Action Fund48,426,867 AFSCME Special Account25,144,915 MoveOn.org Voter Fund12,558,215 New Democrat Network Non Federal Account12,726,158 Citizens for a Strong Senate10,853,730 Sierra Club Voter Education Fund87,271,27 EMILYS List Non Federal77,399,46

Top Ten Republican 527s, 2004 Progress for America Voter Fund44,929,178 Swift Boat Vets and POWs for Truth25,758,413 Club for Growth19,365,903 College Republican National Committee, Inc.16,830,651 Club for Growth.net4,115,037 National Association of Realtors 527 Fund3,215,263 The November Fund3,151,170 CA Republican National Convention Delegation 2004 Account4,393,055 Republican Leadership Coalition, Inc.2,365,550 National Federation of Republican Women2,201,533

The Shadow Campaign

How do these quasi-party organizations affect election outcomes? From democracy’s point of view, who should be in charge of campaign messages: the candidates, the parties, or anybody with a videocamera or a few million dollars?