1. Elections and Campaigns
Including Campaign Finance Reform

2. Primary v. General Elections
Closed Primary (CA) – only members of the registered party can vote for that party’s candidate
Open Primary (MI) – decide when you get there which party’s ballot you want to vote on
Blanket Primary (WA) – can vote for different party’s candidates on different offices (ie. Republican on President, but Democrat on Senate)
Designed to pick each party’s nominee
Some states still have caucuses (group meetings) to decide the nominee in that state
Delegates to National Conventions are often listed on the presidential primary
Delegate selection only – names of delegates listed
Delegate selection with advisory presidential preference – pick delegates and a candidate
Binding presidential preference – indicate preferred candidate and delegates must follow
To win, must mobilize political activists who will give you money, do volunteer work, and attend local caucuses
Need to be more partisan – usually liberal or conservative
Designed to pick a winner between the two parties
Candidates will use the partisan slogans and campaigns that were used during the primaries in order to win the nomination against their opponents
In order to win the general, candidates need to moderate some and go back to the ideological center
Clothespin vote – a person who does not like either candidate and votes for the less objectionable (putting a clothespin over your nose to ignore the smell)
Happened a lot in 2016 election

3. Presidential v. Congressional/Midterm Elections
More voters participate
More competitive than House of Reps races - winner usually gets less than 55% of vote
Presidents don’t get a lot of credit for the work they do – must rely on media
Presidents can’t get away from the “mess in Washington”
House of Rep races – incumbent usually wins
Representatives answer to constituents and take credit for local projects
Since less people vote in midterms – candidates have to appeal to more partisan voters
Don’t have to take responsibility for whole country
Used to be able to ride coattails of popular President, but not as much any more

4. Presidential Background
In the past, voters have preferred candidates with some sort of military or government experience
What changed in 2016?
Why do you think this trend has changed?

5. Running for President Trump Takes a lot of time and a lot of money
Needs a large staff and a lot of organization – consisting of fundraisers, lawyers, accountants, speech writers, travel scheduler, press secretary, advertising specialist, direct-mail company, pollsters, etc.
Each campaign picks a strategy
Incumbents must defend their record
Challengers attack the incumbent
Candidate of the party in the White House takes some of the blame for prior policies
Tone, theme, time, and target:
Tone – positive or negative
Clinton – Generally Positive; Trump – Generally Negative
Theme – simple, appealing idea that is repeated over and over
Clinton – Stronger Together, Trump – Make America Great Again
Time – if unknown you need to put everything into primaries and caucuses
Target – those that are likely to change their votes – not the partisan voters
Trump
Clinton

6. Running For Congress
Constitution says little about how representatives will be selected
Says nothing about districts
Some states did not even create Congressional districts
Malapportionment – districts of unequal size
Giving citizens in smaller districts with less population more representation than large districts with big populations
Gerrymandering – drawing districts so one party is more likely to win
States did little to address malapportionment and gerrymandering until forced to do so by the Supreme Court
Candidate wins a party’s nomination by getting enough signatures to get on a primary election ballot
Very difficult for incumbents to lose (sophomore surge) – popularity after their freshman year in office
Legislators are closely tied to local concerns and usually are not subject to party control
Members organize to do as much as possible for their constituents
Committee membership helps local projects

7. Television, Debates, and Social Media
Spots – Short television ads
More effective in the primary than in the general
Effective in that they are memorable and informative
Visual – Campaign activity that appears on the news
Speeches, talk to kids, shake hands with homeless, etc.
Not that effective because the public wants more information
Interviews and Debates
The public tends to favor them because they can be informative and balanced
Free advertising, but risky – slip of the tongue, sweating or other issues
Social Media
The new type of campaign advertising – Twitter and Youtube particulary effective in last election

8. Campaign Finance – Era 1 (1971-2002)
Hard Money = money given directly to candidates
Soft Money = money given to the parties
Federal Elections Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA)
Limited how much hard money individuals could donate to candidates
No Labor Unions, foreign nationals, or corporations could donate to candidates
Limited candidate spending
Disclosure rules got stricter
Loopholes to FECA
Soft money was allowed as long as the party was not giving the money directly to the candidate
Could still finance get out the vote drives and financing voter registration – could help the democratic or republican candidate in the end
It allowed PACs (Political Action Committees) – 50 voluntary members, give to at least 5 federal candidates, cannot give more than $5000 to any one candidate in any election or $15000 per year to any political party
Not as helpful to Congressional candidates – most of their funding is still from individuals
Independent Expenditures – PACs, Labor unions, and corporations could spend as much as they want to support or oppose a candidate as long as it was not coordinated with the candidates – protected by free speech

9. Era 1 Continued – Supreme Court Ruling on FECA
Buckley v. Valeo:
Upheld the FECA limits on hard money to candidates
Struck down the limits on candidate spending
Unless the candidate accepts public funding – then still limited on spending (federal money will match whatever the candidate raises on any donation of $250 or less)
Delineated between expressed advocacy ads and issue ads
Expressed advocacy = vote for X or vote for Y
Must be paid for with hard money
Issue ads = discussion of a policy issue
Can be paid for with soft money

10. Era 2 ( )
Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA)
Banned soft money contributions to national political parties from corporations and unions
Raised hard money limits – more hard money could be given
Limits issue ads to before the election – 30 days before primary, 60 days before general
PACs are not limited to this, but they give hard money, not soft money like most independent expenditures for issue ads
This is a limit on independent expenditures – including labor unions, trade associations, corporations, and at times nonprofits
Upheld by McConnell v. FEC
Loopholes of BCRA
Independent Expenditure groups explode – 527 organizations, 501c3 organizations,
501c4 organizations are created – dark money groups – funds given to social welfare organizations
Because they are social welfare organizations they can accept unlimited funding

11. American Federation of Teachers - Solidarity Ad Open Secrets
Era 2 continued
527 organizations:
Section 527 of the IRC (internal revenue code) that raise and spend money to advance political causes
Resembles the soft money to parties that used to be allowed
Can spend money on politics as long as it doesn’t coordinate with a specific candidate or lobby directly for them
501c3 organizations:
Religious, educational, charitable, animal cruelty, etc.
Nonprofit organizations that are tax exempt
Cannot intervene in elections, but are allowed to lobby for legislation to an extent
Can host unbiased voter education drives – get out the vote
501c4 organizations:
Social welfare nonprofit groups that are tax exempt
Grassroots “action” organizations
Can back candidates, but the income they use to do so is taxable
Must follow the same limits on issue ads that are listed in BCRA
American Federation of Teachers - Solidarity Ad Open Secrets

12. Era 3 – 2010-Present Citizens United: SuperPACs
Independent Expenditures groups funded by corporations protected by free speech
Struck down limits on issue ads by corporations/unions
Corporations can act similar to individuals in campaigns
SuperPACs
Arose after the decision in speechnow.org v. Federal Elections Commission
Independent expenditure only organizations
Can accept unlimited funding from corporations, unions, individuals, etc.
Can spend unlimited amount of money overtly supporting or opposing a candidate as long as it is independent

13. Run Down of Citizens United

14. Analyze the laws
Read through the executive summaries and majority/dissenting opinions of FECA, Buckley v. Valeo, BCRA, McConnell v. FEC, Citizens United v. FEC, and Speechnow.org v. FEC
What are their arguments for reforming campaign finance?
Were they successful in limiting blatant corruption like bribery? What about undue influence?
In your opinion, which aspects of each law or case should be upheld? Which aspects should be overturned? Why?
What are some other solutions to campaign finance that you can propose? Do you think there will be loopholes to those solutions as well?