5.1.2 Campaign Finance

Question 1

What is ‘campaign finance’?

Answer 1

Refers to all the funds raised to promote candidates, political parties or policy initiatives and their agendas during an election.

Question 2

What was The Federal Election Campaign Act (1974) in response to?

Answer 2

The Watergate Scandal

Question 3

What is ‘hard money’?

Answer 3

Money donated directly to a political party or an individuals campaign. it is capped by federal law..

Question 4

What is ‘soft money’?

Answer 4

Money donated indirectly to political parties and therefore not tightly regualted by law

Question 5

What type of money did The Federal Election Campaign Act (1974) try to limit?

Answer 5

Hard money

Question 6

What did the Buckley V Valeo (1976) case find about the FECA (1974)?

Answer 6

Supreme Court rules that the act infringed First Amendments Rights and therefore was unconstitutional

Question 7

In 1979, how did Congress further weaken the FECA (1974)?

Answer 7

Congress allowed parties to raise money for aspects such as voter registration as well as ‘party activities’ (soft money)

Question 8

Between 1976 and 2008, what were presidential funded by?

Answer 8

Matching funds

Question 9

What are ‘matching funds’?

Answer 9

Federal money administered by the newly formed Federal Election Commission (FEC)

Question 10

Who opted out of matching funds?

Answer 10

Obama in 2008

Question 11

In 2014, what did Obama do to end matching funds?

Answer 11

Signed legislation to end the public financing of parties national conventions

Question 12

Who initiated the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (2002)?

Answer 12

Republican John McCain

Democrat Russel Feingold

Question 13

What did the McCain-Feingold Act (2002) do?

Answer 13

National party committees were banned from raising soft money
Corporations and Unions were banned from funding advertisements
Prohibited the use of union or corporate money to mention a federal candidate within 60 days of a general election or 30 day of a primary

Question 14

What is a Political Action Committee (PAC)?

Answer 14

A committee that raises limited amounts of money and spends this money to defeat a candidate

Question 15

What is a Super PAC?

Answer 15

A committee that makes independent expenditures but doesn’t make direct contributions to candidates

Question 16

Where did the PAC originate from?

Answer 16

Citizens United V Federal Election Commission (2010)

Question 17

What did the Citizens United V Federal Election Commission (2010)?

Answer 17

Because of the limit to contributions to candidates and political parties, new organisations needed to be formed that made independent expenditures on their own

Question 18

What is the role of a PAC?

Answer 18

To express the purpose of defeating specific candidates

Question 19

Why was the Citizens United V Federal Election Commission (2010) brought about?

Answer 19

In 2008, Citizens United wanted to air a critical film of Hilary Clinton before within the 60 days of an election. The Supreme Court reversed the McCain-Feingold Act 5 - 4

Question 20

What was the implication of the Citizens United V Federal Election Commission (2010) case?

Answer 20

It granted corporate and union organisations the same rights of political free speech as individuals

Question 21

What is the main difference between PACs and SuperPACs?

Answer 21

Can accept unlimited donations from individuals, corps and unions but CANNOT make any direct contributions to candidates and parties

Question 22

What did the McCutcheon V Federal Election Commission (2014) do, and what was its impact?

Answer 22

Again, raised concerns over the infringements of the FECA 1974, and how it was unconstitutional to the First Amendment

Question 23

What do supporters of the SuperPAC believe?

Answer 23

A positive consequence of deregulation, they’re an important outlet for political free speech

Question 24

What do opponents of the SuperPAC believe?

Answer 24

Yet they are another outlet for unlimited money in electoral politics (while legally independent) are merely extensions to campaigns

Question 25

Arguments to suggest that money influences the outcome of elections?

Answer 25

• Biden outspent Trump in 2020
• Senate race, an incumbent was defeated and was outspent by $30m in 2020
• superior funding enables candidates to get more TV time e.c.t.

Question 26

Arguments to suggest that money does not influence the outcome of elections?

Answer 26

• Clinton out-raised Trump and lost

- incumbency is a greater asset in congressional elections

Question 27

Where are the 3 places that money goes in US politics?

Answer 27

• organisation
• campaigning
• media

Question 28

How is money in US elections spent on organisation?

Answer 28

Means staff, their salaries and administrative costs. These range from lower paid, lower skilled to specialist political consultants. Also retain some money to pay for lawyers if they need them

Question 29

How is money in US elections spent on campaigning?

Answer 29

Sees candidates travelling from state to state so the costs of travelling, hotel accommodation e.c.t. is expensive

Question 30

How is the money in US elections spent on the media?

Answer 30

Where the bulk of the money goes. This is TV ads, billboards and nowadays increasingly on social media.