1. APS Day 37 Agenda Goal – to understand that elections require complex and expensive campaigns, connected to but independent of parties, that lead to dilemmas of government. Warm-up – 1. List the 2 steps in the election process – How is the presidential election different from house and senate? Packet p 14-15 2. Finish completing Packet p 14-15 to review interest groups A.Review warm-up B.What is the difference between an interest group and a PAC? C.Money in politics – why is money so important and how does it pose so many problems for our political system? D.4 types of advertising – Identify the type of ad E.Complete Citizens United v FEC reading comprehension activity

2. Nature of interest groups 1.Interest groups don’t run candidates for office 2.IG focus on a particular issue to influence government 3.Organized around issues not winning elections 4.Madison warned against factions 5.Madison thought factions could be controlled by a large republic 6.IGs: stimulate interest in issue 7.Represent issues rather than geography 8.Provide info to government and the public 9.Offer a means to effectively participate in politics 10.Helps to check and balance the overall political system 11.Provide competition for ideas 12.IG’s have become very politically powerful 13.Hard to determine how many people actually support a specific group 14.Some IG’s don’t actually represent their own members 15.Some use unfair or illegal tactics that corrupt the system

3. 1.name recognition - stickers, posters, print ads, free media 2.position promotion/issue advertising - focuses on presenting a particular view of an issue and somehow linking the candidate to that positive view of the position 3.positive image - ads that make the candidate look good or show that the candidate has good ideaspositive image 4.negative ads - ads that attack the opposing candidate, making the opposition look bad. Types of advertising

4. Committee to Elect Roy Blunt, Inc. Receives ONLY HARD money from: Individuals – $2,300 per election PACs - $5,000/election Federal Gov’t – matching funds up to $250/private donation Prohibited – NOT Prohibited – companies, labor unions, banks may NOT donate any $ Spends money for: Advertising Travel Office staff Campaign consultants Office supplies Mailing Polling $ Political Action Committees (PACs) Receive $ from: Individuals - $5,000/yr Other PACs - $5,000/yr Prohibited – NOT Prohibited – companies, labor unions, banks may NOT donate any $ National Political Party – gets $ from: Individuals – $25,000/yr PACs – $15,000/yr Soft Money $ National Political Party – got Soft Money $ from: Individuals – unlimitedBusinesses - unlimited PACs – unlimitedUnions - unlimited Soft $ spent on “issue ads” “Informational ads” Party-building activities Election spending ave. House - $900,000 Senate - $4 million President - $125 million BCRA ‘ 02

5. What are the issues of Campaign Finance? 1.What appear to be problems with the funding and cost of campaigns? 2.Because there appears to be problems with financing campaigns, what problems for the US come from your answers to # 1? 3.What have been the solutions implemented to solve the above problems? 4.Have the solutions worked?

6. Factors, Problems and Proposed Solutions for the campaign finance situation Factors that contribute to perceived problems in campaign finance: 1 – campaigns seem to be exorbitantly expensive relative to incomes of normal Americans 2 – Federal Election Commission is virtually toothless – unable to enforce laws effectively. This is partially caused by having an even number of Democrats and Republicans, and any actions the FEC takes needs a majority vote. 3 – candidates and politicians spend a lot of time raising money 4 – there are still loopholes in the election finance laws that allow for abuses like Swift Boat Veterans and The Media Fund – independent expenditures very closely connected to the campaigns 5 – Free Speech allows for …free speech and thus few limits on spending and campaigning

7. Factors, Problems and Proposed Solutions for campaign finance Problems caused by the above factors 1 - Congress does not spend enough time legislating if it is spending so much time on raising money – 60% of time raising money in an election year. 2 - There is a public perception that politicians are corrupt – therefore there is a lack of trust in politicians when asked if the “candidate cares about people like me.” 3 - Voters see candidates spend time with donors and not with the public therefore… 4 - Voters believe the system benefits the wealthy, the elite and the corporations at the common person’s expense 5 - Money buys access, therefore the people with money get their views heard, and the common person or the less well-connected gets frozen out of the policy-making process. This is especially apparent relative to… 6 - Special interest groups appear to exert too much influence over policy- making 7 - With so much money available, it is profligately spent leading to vast numbers of negative ads.

8. Factors, Problems and Proposed Solutions for the campaign finance situation Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold Act) solutions 1 - Ban soft money 2 - Increased contribution limits 3 - Strict disclosure requirements – every donation to every party, PAC and campaign is reported to the FEC with donor’s names, addresses, jobs, and amounts 4 - Ads must have approval voiced by candidate him/herself 5 - Independent expenditures with candidates names strictly limited within 60 days of an election – Citizens United v FEC (2010) just overturned this part of the BCRA 6 - Union dues cannot be spent on elections, and union members can opt out of union PAC donations without penalty

9. Provisions of McCain Feingold –Ban Soft Money – Parties cannot spend, federal candidates cannot solicit, state parties cannot spend soft money on federal elections But – limits are raised – individuals can give $10,000 to local & parties, and biennial total contributions to all candidates$37,500 and $57,500 to parties & PACs and limits increase each year with inflation –Phony issue ads and independent expenditures – corporations, unions and other organizations are strictly limited in paying for ads that are intended to influence federal elections – defined as ads that mention a candidate by name, on broadcast media 60 days before an election.

10. Provisions of McCain Feingold –People can still spend whatever they want of their own money, BUT not in concert with a candidate or party –Union spending – non-union members who benefit from union activity and pay a fee, may have part of the fee reduced if they don’t want the money used for political activities –Enhanced disclosure – much more strict rules for how and when groups must explain who donated how much and when and where the money went

11. Provisions of McCain Feingold –FEC will ask individual to limit personal spending to $50,000 –Stronger ban on foreign money and fundraising on federal property