What do the sources suggest about the role of money in politics? “There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money and I can't remember what the second one is.” —Ohio political boss and U.S. Senator Mark Hanna, 1895.

Political Campaigns So political campaigns are a pretty big deal in the United States. For instance the 2012 presidential election clocked in at the most expensive ever - at around $6 billion dollars! Needless to say, money plays a very big role in American elections. So today, Craig is going to take a look at why we have campaigns in the first place, why the campaign seasons run for so long, and of course why campaigns cost so much.  Watch the video clip.

Enquiry Question: How do presidential candidates fund their campaign?

Learning Outcomes To analyse the role of campaign finance in elections To identify and explain the different methods of financing campaigns To analyse the arguments for and against these methods of campaign finance

Key Definition Campaign Finance: All funds raised in order to promote candidates, political parties, or policies in elections, referendums, initiatives, party activities, and party organizations Basically it’s the process by which candidates and political parties raise money to help promote an issue or get a candidate elected.

How has campaign finance changed? George Washington Abraham Lincoln 1757 – ran for seat in Virginia’s House of Burgesses “the customary means of winning votes” 46 gallons of beer 28 gallons of rum 50 gallons of rum punch 34 gallons of wine 2 gallons of cider Election to 7th district of Congress "I did not need the money I made the canvass on my own horse, my entertainment being at the houses of friends, cost me nothing; and my only outlay was 75 cents for a barrel of cider, which some farmhands insisted I should treat them to.”

How has campaign finance changed? Where does the money come from? In 2008 candidates for office, political parties, and independent groups spent $5,300,000,000 Over $1,000,000,000 was spent by the two Presidential candidates (Barack Obama & John McCain) alone In 2010 the average elected member in the House of Representatives spent $1,400,000 and the average elected Senator spent $9,800,000 In every election more and more money seems to be spent. BUT WHY?

How has campaign finance changed? Where does the money come from? Individual Contributions: Donations to candidates or political parties from individual citizens. As the table below demonstrates, the majority of individual contributions come from a select few individuals who give a large amount.

How has campaign finance changed? Where does the money come from? Political Action Committees (PACs): A type of organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaign for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. Super PAC: a type of independent political action committee which may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, and individuals but is NOT permitted to contribute to or coordinate directly with parties or candidates. 527 and 501c4 Groups: a type of U.S. tax exempt organization created to influence the election or defeat of candidates to office. Before the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United V. The FEC (Federal Elections Commission) these groups could not expressly advocate for the election or defeat of a specific candidate, but could only promote an issue. However, after the Supreme Court decision in 2010 these groups can directly advertise on behalf of or against a candidate, but cannot coordinate directly with parties or candidates.

How much does it cost to run for President? How much does it cost to “win” the Presidency?

How much does it cost to run for President? How much does it cost to “win” the Presidency?

How much does it cost to run for President? How much does it cost to “win” the Presidency? YOUR TASK: Read the data regarding campaign finance spending between 1960 and 2016. What is the general trend of the total amount of money spent in presidential elections since 1960? Why do you think more money is being spent on campaigns today than in the past? Is there a correlation between the amount of money spent in an election and the winner/loser of the election? What do you think the candidates spend the majority of their money on? Do you think this significantly impacts the way that citizens vote? Who do you believe the majority of the money is coming from? What might be their motives to giving money to a candidate?

What does the graph suggest about presidential election spending (green)? What does the graph suggest about congressional election spending (beige)? What does the table suggest about trends in campaign spending?

What is campaign finance spent on? Campaigns cost a lot of money to run. Everything from hiring people to coordinate and canvass to renting large spaces for rallies, paying to fuel the jet, and T.V. and print advertisements. The costs associated are broken down into 7 categories: Media- 29% Fundraising- 21% Salaries- 16% Administrative- 12% Unclassifiable- 8% Strategy & Research- 7% Campaign Expenses- 7% What is campaign finance spent on?

What is campaign finance spent on? What were the main areas of expenditure in the 2016 election?

Learning Outcomes To analyse the role of campaign finance in elections To identify and explain the different methods of financing campaigns To analyse the arguments for and against these methods of campaign finance

How are campaigns financed? Soft money Hard money PACs Super PACs 527 groups Matching funds Political Parties Federal grants Self-financing Watch the video clip.

Soft money This is the election campaign money goes indirectly to the candidate; money that can not be regulated by the federal government. It is given to the parties' Conventions Hard money This is election campaign money that goes directly to the candidate, and it is regulated by federal government. Individuals can give no more $2,500, and thanks to Citizens United case, corporations can also donate this way. PACs These are political action committees, which collects campaign donations and pools them together to give to the candidate, to help fund their election campaign. Under FECA, an organisation comes a PAC when it gives $1,000 to influence an election at the federal level. These are often used by pressure groups to allow them to influence an election, for example the NRA's PAC is called the Political Victory Fund, which it used to fund Bush and McCain, and oppose Obama Super PACs These are political action committees which run free from regulation of how much money they may use, created after Citizens United v FEC. They do not donate to the candidates or parties, but rather spend independently of campaigns- like creating adverts for candidates, funded by the donors to the Super PAC. Super PAC donors thus are not donating directly to the candidate or campaign; but rather to extra material to held in the campaign. There was a rise of these in 2012 elections, for example Romney's campaign Super PAC Restore our Future spent $40 million. 527 groups 527 groups are groups that are tax exempt, and set up to help influence an election, federal or otherwise. Technically, PACs and Super PACs are 527 groups, but 527 groups are ones specifically which do not declare themselves to a particular candidate; they campaign on issues etc. For example, the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth, a 527, in 2004, released a campaign video questioning John Kerry's military record.

Federal contribution limits Federal law restricts how much individuals and organizations may contribute to political campaigns, political parties, and other FEC-regulated organizations. Corporations and unions are banned from donating money directly to candidates ("hard money") or national party committees. Candidate Committee PAC Individual $2,700 per election $5,000 per year $2,000 per election PAC - Multicandidate $5,000 per election PAC - Non-multicandidate $2,700[ per election State, District & Local Party Committee National Party Committee $5,000 per election[

Are elections too expensive? YES NO These vast sums of money cut out some candidates without the connections to raise money.  Money and corruption in politics go hand in hand.  A lot of money from election fundraising goes towards media campaigning costs.  Soft money encourages high incumbency rates in Congress.  Third party candidates are impacted. The US is an extensive country and candidates need to travel.  Fundraising ability demonstrates qualities about the candidate.  The electoral process in the US is lengthy. Media is essential for communication. Money is important for such important roles such as the Presidency of the USA. Raising a great deal of money does not ensure success. YOUR TASK: Create your own table, only add a developed explanation of each argument that is provided.

How has campaign finance been reformed? Key Reforms Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) Buckley v. Valeo (1976) The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (2002) *also known as McCain-Feingold reforms McConnell v. FEC (2003) FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life (2007) Davis v. FEC (2008) Citizens United v. FEC (2010) Read the hand-out that explains the key reforms.

How has campaign finance been reformed? YOUR TASK: Watch the video clip and answer the following questions on the worksheet. What was the title of the movie that Citizens United created? What was the purpose of the movie? What does Quid Pro Quo mean? How did candidates raise campaign funds in the “Olden Times” What part of the McCain Feingold Act did the FEC say that Citizens United violated by creating this movie? What did the Tillmain Act (1907) ban? Who did the Supreme Court side with in Citizens United V. FEC? What did the Taft-Hartley Act (1947) ban? Why did PACs develop? What connection between money and speech was establish due to the decision in Citizens United V. FEC? What did the FECA Act (1971) try to do? Summarize the liberal stance on money in politics. How did PACs try to get around the limits set on them by the FECA Act? Summarize the conservative stance on money in politics. What did the McCain Feingold Act or the BCRA ban? What are SuperPACs not allowed to do? What are 527 groups not allowed to do in their issue ads? Where is the majority of the funding for SuperPACs coming from?

How has campaign finance been reformed? However, genuine campaign finance reform has proved elusive because: candidates want to spend as much as possible to gain an advantage over their opposition, and this has led to the collapse of the presidential election financing system in both the primaries and general election donors want to donate; there is apparently a widespread belief that donations buy influence, and the bigger the donation, the bigger the influence of the role of the Supreme Court and the strength of constitutional rights to free speech, which means e.g. that TV advertising is impossible to ban; Buckley made all limits on candidate expenditure (except where federally subsided) unconstitutional and Citizens United made the electoral activities of independent groups exempt from regulation of the apparent difficulty of framing legislation without loopholes, e.g. the growth of soft money in the 1990s, the role of 527s in 2004 of the gridlocked and ineffectual state of the FEC

Learning Outcomes To analyse the role of campaign finance in elections To identify and explain the different methods of financing campaigns To analyse the arguments for and against these methods of campaign finance

Structured Academic Controversy YOUR TASK: Read the hand-out “Structured Academic Controversy Background and Context of Debate”, then choose a side you believe most fits with your opinion. Divide into two groups; those who chose YES, and those who said NO. Individually read the handout and complete the summary of each section in the “summary” column of the table for your side. In your group, discuss the arguments you discovered in the reading. The group should decide on the 3 strongest arguments that they will present during the debate. Choose a partner that is on the same side of the room as you are. Move into a group of 4 with an opposing pair from the other side.

Structured Academic Controversy YOUR TASK: The YES group now has 2 minutes to present their arguments to the NO group. During this time the NO group should be silently listening. The NO group now has 1 minute to respond to the arguments of the YES group. However, the NO group should not begin presenting their 3 prepared arguments, just rebutting the YES group’s arguments. During this time the YES group should remain silent and listen. The NO group now has 2 minutes to present their arguments to the YES group. During this time the YES group should be silently listening. The YES group now has 1 minute to respond to the arguments of the NO group. During this time the NO group should remain silent and listen. Lastly, the groups will have 3 minutes to work together to come to a compromise between both of the group’s ideas and write them down to present to the class. During this time all of you should voice your opinion and share in creating a bipartisan solution.

Learning Outcomes To analyse the role of campaign finance in elections To identify and explain the different methods of financing campaigns To analyse the arguments for and against these methods of campaign finance

Does money buy speech?

Why has campaign finance reform had such limited success?

Why has campaign finance reform had such limited success? The reasons campaign finance reform has had such limited success include: candidates want to spend as much as possible to gain an advantage over their opposition, and are constantly exploiting the loopholes and pushing the boundaries of legislation, e.g. the delay by Jeb Bush in 2015 in announcing his presidential run so that he could continue raising money for his super PAC. see e.g. http://tinyurl.com/kybawgk the presidential election financing system in both primaries and general election has collapsed because candidates can raise more money outside the system and both Obama and Romney self-financed in 2012 donors want to donate; there is apparently a widespread belief that donations buy influence, and the bigger the donation, the bigger the influence

Why has campaign finance reform had such limited success? the role of the Supreme Court and the strength of constitutional rights to free speech: Buckley made all limits on candidate expenditure (except where federally subsidised) unconstitutional in the 1970s and more recently Citizens United made the electoral activities of independent groups exempt from regulation and has led to the growth of ‘super PACs’ the difficulty of enforcing regulation, e.g. candidates are not officially allowed to coordinate their campaigns with super PACs which are supporting them but coordination is hard to prove, and problems of enforcement are compounded by the ineffectualness of the FEC, whose six members are perpetually gridlocked at 3-3, see e.g. http://tinyurl.com/nkq5m6o lack of political will – congressional incumbents have almost always benefited from outspending their opponents and consequently have little incentive to introduce limitations on that spending

Homework Application Task: Why are presidential election campaigns so expensive? (15) Preparation Task: National Party Conventions (Bennett p62-70) Stretch & Challenge Task Campaign finance in the USA and the First Amendment (Politics Review, Vol 24, No 1 2014)