1. I AN L YONS J ONATHON S ILVA Campaign Finance in the U.S.

2. Lets Begin…. Why do millions of dollars need to be raised in order to run for political office? How do political campaigns obtain money?

3. 2012 Presidential Election Spending TV Ad SpendingObamaRomney Colorado$13,995,215$11,518,472 Florida$24,812,689$27,159,751 Iowa$10,266,941$12,958,829 Nevada$9,389,096$9,101,821 New Hampshire$6,372,602$7,425,827 North Carolina$12,298,964$18,770,636 Ohio$29,954,302$26,402,369 Pennsylvania$7,230,776$6,024,219 Virginia$18,210,380$21,497,528 Total$118,535,750$129,340,980 47.82%52.18% Is Virginia an important state in this year's election? Source: National Journal analysis, 5/1-8/6, 11 top financing sources

4. The Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the government agency charged with administering and enforcing federal campaign finance law.FEC Federal campaign finance law covers three broad subjects: Public disclosure of funds raised and spent to influence federal elections; Restrictions on contributions and expenditures made to influence federal elections; and Public financing of Presidential campaigns.

5. Types of Money Donations HARD $: Actual money donations; regulated. SOFT $: funds spent by organizations that are not contributed directly to candidate campaigns, and which do not "expressly advocate" the election or defeat of a candidate.

6. BCRA of 2002 (McCain-Feingold Act) Eliminated soft money contributions. The source of political ads had to be identified and corporations/non-profits could not directly fund ads. What do you think was the purpose of this bill?

7. Campaign Financing & The SCT Buckley v. Valeo, (1976) Buckley established most principles of the campaign finance legal framework, including the unconstitutionality of mandatory spending limits for candidates and independent expenditure groups. McConnell v. FEC, (2003) The Supreme Court upheld as constitutional the law's ban on the raising and spending of soft money by national parties, federal officeholders, and federal candidates.

8. Citizens United Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2009) – overturned much of McCain-Feingold. Decision 1/21/09: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/studentnews/01/21/tra nscript.fri/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/studentnews/01/21/tra nscript.fri/index.html Do you think that this judgment was right? Should campaign finance be considered free speech?

9. How do Interest Groups/PACs influence politics? Bring issues to the publics’ attention. As campaigning has become more expensive, these groups have had greater influence. Differences between PACs/Interest Groups Interest Groups have a more focused set of issues while PACs support more broad set of issues (candidates/ideologies). PACs can raise unlimited funds, interest groups have limits.

10. Super Political Action Committees (PACs) Labor unions, corporations, and other groups that collect donations and support political positions. PAC TV Ad Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaIu5bvKpvo