Paying For Election Campaigns

Chapter 10

Section 3

Key Terms

• Propaganda: An attempt to promote a particular person or idea

• Soft Money:Donations given to political parties and not designated for a particular candidate’s election campaign

• Political Action Committees (PACs): Political organization established by a cooperation, labor union, or other special interest group designed to support candidates by contributing money

• Incumbent: A politician who has already been elected to office

Running for Office

• Americans spend $3 billion on elections every four years

• Takes a lot of money to run successful campaign

• Each campaign has a campaign organization– May have a many as a few

or thousands of workers

Running for Office cont.

• Campaign workers must acquaint voters with the candidate

• Strategies used:– Canvassing

– Endorsements

– Advertising and Image molding

– Campaign Expenses

Canvassing

• Asking for votes• Taking public opinion

polls• Door to door

– Hand out literature

– Ask for votes

Endorsements

• Famous or popular person supports a campaign

• Why is this useful?– If voters like the person

making the endorsement they may decide to vote for them as well

• Endorsements are Propaganda – Used to persuade voters to

choose them

Advertising and Image molding

• Time and money used to create right image for candidate

• Political advertisements allow party to present its candidate’s position

• Also to attack opponent without opportunity to respond

Advertising and Image molding cont.

• Newspapers• Posters• Television ($$$)

– Television tend to stay in people’s minds longer

– Effective way to win votes

Campaign Expenses

• Television:– Costs tens of thousands per minute

• Airfare• Other transportation • Salaries for campaign staff• Fees for consultants

– Pollsters

• Computer, telephone, printing costs

Financing a Campaign

• Methods established by Congressional legislation and Supreme Court decisions

• Reform how candidates raise money has led to changes in law

Federal Election Campaign Act(FECA)

• 1971• Controls for campaign financing• Amended in `74, `76, `79

– Established rules

• Required disclosure of candidate spending• Limited hard money

– Amount individuals could donate

Federal Election Campaign Act(FECA) cont.

• `74 Amendment– Created Federal Election Commission (FEC)

• Monitored spending

• Administered laws

• Candidates and parties must keep records of contributions

• Must report all contributions over $200

Public Funding

• FECA:– Created public funding for presidential elections

(Presidential Election Campaign Fund)

– Lets taxpayers give $3 of tax return to go to fund

– After national conventions major parties split the money

• Cannot accept other direct contributions

• Third parties can receive some if they received 5% of popular vote in previous election

Soft Money and PACs

• Most election money comes from private sources– Hundreds of millions

• Sources:– Citizens– Corporations– Labor unions– Interest groups– Political Action Committees

(PACs)• FECA limited direct

donations from PACs

PACs

• To avoid FECA restrictions:– Candidates can seek soft money– Can come from individuals or PACs– No limits on contributions

• Soft money supposed to be used for:– voter registration drives– Mailings

PACs cont.

• Congress has discussed reforming campaign finance law

• PACs gave most of their money to incumbents

• However, many lawmakers were reluctant to change the rules

• Why?

Campaign Reform

• 2002: Campaign Reform Act– Prohibits parties, federal officeholders, and

federal candidates from raising soft money– Restricts broadcasting political ads– Raises limit on hard money

• Raise $2000

Homework

• Chapter 10 Section 3 Worksheets #128-131

• Chapter 10 Section 3 questions– Pg. 250– 1-6 answer thoroughly