Chapter 17

Elections and Voting

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Election Campaigns

Key Decisions

• What consultants to use• What issues to focus on• Whether to run a positive or

negative campaign• What states to concentrate on• Where to spend the money

Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA)

• Created in response to Nixon and Watergate scandals; huge illegal contributions from large corporations.

• Designed to make candidates responsive to the public rather than wealthy supporters.

• Also to allow public officials to focus on their jobs rather than non-stop fund raising.

Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA)

• Federal Election Commission (FEC) created.

• Disclosure: candidates required to disclose the SOURCE of campaign contributions and list their EXPENDITURES.

• Public funding: available for presidential primaries and general elections, in exchange for accepting campaign spending limits.

• Limits on contributions.

• Originally there were expenditure caps.

Supreme Court Decisions

• Limits on how much individuals may contribute to their own campaigns are unconstitutional.

• Campaign expenditure limits are unconstitutional.

• Contribution limits on non-candidates okay.

• Spending cap in exchange for public financing okay.

New Federal Contribution Limits per election cycle (2 years)

Individuals:$2,300 per candidate$5,000 per PAC$10,000 per state or local party

committee$28,500 per national party committee$108,200 aggregate total

PAC’s$5,000 per candidate$5,000 per state or local party committee$15,000 per national party committee

Public Financing

Primaries • “Matching funds” for first $250 of

contributions IF candidate raises at least $5,000 in each of 20 states AND limits personal spending to $50,000.

• 2000 – Nine candidates got matching funds; only Bush and one other opted out.

General Elections• Grant of about $85 million IF candidate

agrees to not accept private funds and limit own contribution to $50,000.

Third Party Public Financing

• Third party candidates can only receive federal funding if their party got 5% of the vote in the previous election.

• 1992 – Ross Perot got 19% of the vote, received public funding, spent $60 million of his own money.

• John McCain• 2000 - Ralph Nader got almost 3%

of the vote.

Ways to get around FECA

• Hard money – money donated to candidates or political parties that is limited to a certain amount per individual or PAC.

• “Soft money” – money contributed to a party for “party building activities”; could be unlimited in amount and given by anyone: labor unions, businesses, or wealthy individuals

• “Party building activities: Get-out-the-vote, issue advocacy advertising, “vote democratic” or “vote republican” type advertising, etc.

• Issue advocacy advertising – advertising related to an issue, that helps a candidate.

• Issue ads cannot say “vote for so and so” nor can they be coordinated with a candidate’s campaign; but they may mention a candidate’s name.

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002

• Political parties may not raise or spend “soft money.”

• “Hard money” limits raised.• Issue oriented ads that mention a candidate’s

name may not be aired within 30 days of a primary election or 60 days of a general election.

Recent Elections

2004• Both candidates opted out of public matching

funds for PRIMARIES and raised $500 million.

• “Snowball effect” started with Steve Forbes.• 527 groups spent $400 million (about 25

individuals gave $146 million to 527 groups).2008• It appears that the leading candidates will opt

out of public financing for BOTH the primary and general elections and raise over a billion dollars.

527 Groups

• Non-profit groups, named after part of the tax code.

• They have taken over much of what “soft money” used to be spent on.

• There is legislation pending that might curb 527 groups, but it keeps being amended.

Public Financing Problems

• Not enough money.

• Not early enough, due to earlier primaries.

• Fund may become insolvent.

Political Slang

• Pundit – an expert who provides commentary• Maven – Yiddish word for “expert”• Blog – web log – online journal• Vlog – web log using video as its primary format• Hack – writer paid to write quick, low-quality

articles or books• Flack – publicist • Wonk – nerd, expert, overly studious person• Neocon – neoconservative

Political Slang

• The Beltway – Washington, D.C. and adjoining suburbs of Virginia and Maryland enclosed by the I-495 freeway

• The Hill – hill upon which the Capitol and some adjoining neighborhoods are located

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Influences on Voters

More Propaganda

• Ad homonim attack – attack on a person rather than debating the issues

• Straw man – creating a misrepresentation of an opponent’s argument that can be easily refuted, and then refuting it