The Campaign Game High-Tech, Media Savvy Modern Campaigns Focus on mass media coverage Direct mail targeted to likely voters Emphasis is on “marketing” the candidate – media focus is on the “horse-race” aspect Horse race journalism- focuses on how the candidates are doing in the polls, who is ahead and what the other candidate needs to do to pull ahead. A lot of focus on public opinion polls because that is really the only thing that changes day-to-day. Candidates biographies, ideas, and policies are fairly stagnant, so they are no longer newsworthy. BTW, this kind of reporting continues after the election: George W. Bush and Hurricane Katrina or Obama and the Affordable Care Act

Money and Campaigning There are two basic ways to contribute money to the dialogue of campaigns in America today Campaign contributions directly to candidates Independent expenditures to groups who express political views and may aid with a campaign There are rules for both!!!

Campaign Finance Reform Federal Election Campaign Act (1974) Limited Individual’s contribution to $1000 Limited Candidate’s own contribution to $50,000 Defined and regulated Political Action Committees (more on these later) Required full disclosure and limited contributions Created voluntary public fund to assist viable candidates Challenged in 1976 in Buckley v. Valeo Upheld individual donations to $1000 and PAC donations to $5000 Candidates can contribute unlimited to their own campaign No limits on overall receipts or expenditures for a campaign Public fund- partial for Primaries, fully fund general election. Places restrictions on how much a candidate can raise and spend (Candidate cannot contribute more than $50,000 of his/her own money) Buckley V Valeo: limits on contributions to candidates are constitutional, but ruled that it was unconstitutional to limit how much a candidate could spend on his/her own campaign

FECA loopholes FECA only addresses money going directly to and from a candidate’s treasury If a non-candidate wanted to spend money to impact an election (buy a radio ad for or against a candidate) there were no limits Soft money Cash donations to a party or interest group Not tracked or regulated by the FEC A party could flood a congressional district with television ads that paint an opponent in a bad light Caused large and ultimately untraceable spending on electioneering (usually at the end of a campaign) Soft Money: unregulated money Soft Money: political contributions (not subject to contribution limits) earmarked for party-building expenses or generic party advertising Hard money – direct contributions to candidates’ election campaigns Soft money – donations to party committees for buying equipment, remodeling the headquarters, or staffing regional offices (with set limits that individuals could contribute) Some were concerned that limits on contributions was a limit on “free speech” (Supreme Court upheld these limits in 1976) Others saw the growing amount of soft money and felt it needed to be controlled FECA rules allowed “issue ads” with soft money as long as they didn’t say specific words like “vote for” or “vote against” (rules lasted 3 decades)

Political Action Committees The Proliferation of PACs Political Action Committees (PACs): created by law in 1974 to allow corporations, labor unions, and other interest groups to donate money to campaigns; PACs are registered with and monitored by the FEC. PAC’s Explained Loopholes with PACs Any interest group can now get into the act by forming its own PAC to directly channel contributions of up to $5000 per candidate in both the primary and general election

The Maze of Campaign Finance Reforms The McCain-Feingold Act (2002) AKA Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (2002) Banned soft money contributions Increased amount that individuals could give to candidates from $1000 to $2000 and can rise with inflation Kept PAC donations at $5000 Candidates must now acknowledge approval of ads Banned “electioneering campaigns 60 days before the General Election 527s: independent groups that seek to influence political process but are not subject to contribution restricts because they do not directly seek election of particular candidates How much are 527’ s spending? McCain-Feingold Act: The increased role of soft money in campaign financing, by prohibiting national political party committees from raising or spending any funds not subject to federal limits, even for state and local races or issue discussion Examples of 527’s: Moveon.org Republican Governors Democratic Govoners

Citizens United v. FEC 2010 Question Answer: Does a governments limitation on groups’ advertising or spending constitute a denial of free speech? Answer: Yes. In Part Ruled that banning electioneering 60 days before the General Election was a violation of the groups’ free speech What did Citizen’s United specifically do? They produced: Hillary The Movie- which was meant to derail her chances of becoming President. The 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold Act) banned it from airing because it was considered “electioneering” within 60 days of the General Election The Court, like most of the country, split on party lines. Free speech advocates vs. opening the floodgates to unregulated money in Campaigns/elections

SpeechNow.org v. FEC (2010) NOT a Supreme Court Case Appellate court held that an organization formed to accept contributions and independent expenditures must register as a political committee. Political committees that make only independent expenditures (i.e. do not donate to political candidates) are entitled to accept unlimited contributions. PAC’s and the 2010 Supreme Court Decision Super PAC’s Explained Colbert Super PAC Why doesn’t the FEC do more to stop this? Sponsor: Kentucky Democratic Party Ad Frequency: 663 times between October 22 and November 3, 1998 ANNOUNCER: If Congressman Bunning gets his way, everything from milk to medicine would cost 30% more. Last week Jim Bunning said quote, "We ought to have a national sales tax." That's right, Bunning would create a whole new federal tax. Bunning wants to raise our taxes, but voted for a tax loophole that has let billionaires renounce their citizenship to avoid paying U.S. taxes. Tell Bunning, no loophole for billionaires, no new sales tax for working people.

How Much $ Has Been Spent? The Daily Show 2015

The Impact of Campaigns Campaigns have three effects on voters: Reinforcement Activation Conversion Several factors weaken campaigns’ impact on voters: Selective perception: pay most attention to things we agree with Party identification still influence voting behavior Incumbents begin with sizeable advantage

So, How Exactly Does the Gov’t Control Campaigns? By limiting campaign donations (in some way) By requiring that campaign donations to candidates be disclosed (usually) By establishing federal oversight to regulate campaign financial activities (affects some, not others) By offering matching funds to presidential candidates in exchange for a limit on expenditures (true!)

Recap Can you trace the Presidential Campaign and Election timeline?