The General Election Campaign

Question 1

Ever since __ __ rejected public money to fund his election campaign in __… [what happened after this?]

Answer 1

Ever since Barack Obama rejected public money to fund his election campaign in 2008, all 4 of the main Presidential candidates from the 2012 and 2016 G.E’s have not used public money to fund their campaigns.

Question 2

Distinguish between ‘hard money’ and ‘soft money.’

[HM -> (2: def + regulated by…)
SM -> (4: Seen as…, because…, e.g. x2)

Answer 2

Hard money:

• Directly contributed to campaigns to public office + primary/caucus competitions…
• …and is thus regulated by the Federal Election Campaign Act by the Federal Election Commission.

Soft money:

• Seen as a loophole and is thus unregulated by the FEC.
• Seen as a loophole b/c parties/candidates can claim soft money for ‘general political activities’ that do not explicitly promote a candidate during an election:
• > e.g. Issue advocacy ads (i.e. ads which highlight a pressing issue and warns of the potential implications related to that issue if their opponent is elected w/ out explicitly stated their opponents name).
• > e.g. get-out-the-vote drives.

Question 3

Explain what the Federal Election Campaign Act sought to achieve, what year it was passed and why Political Action Committees were established to counter this + what they do.

Answer 3

The FECA (1974) sought to:

• Limit individual + corporate contributions to candidates
• Provide ‘matching funds’ to candidates (i.e. taxpayers’ money, which - if a candidate accepts - they face restrictions on how much they can spend).
• Establish a regulatory body (i.e. the Federal Election Commission) to oversee the new system.

PACs are independent organisations that are set up purely to collect campaign contributions to support a candidate.

They were set up as a way around the FECA’s constraints as PACs could get around the limit on individual contributions by bundling together many individual contributions.

Question 4

What did the ‘Buckley v. Valeo’ case establish + what year was the decision made?

Answer 4

The SCOTUS invalidated the limitations set out in the FECA on what individuals/PACs can spend