Elections and Campaign Money I

For Wednesday, Schatzinger, ch. 3.

Overview:  the cost of elections

Context:  compare with product advertising

Key points

• Campaign money matters, but it is not the only thing that matters. Do not try to explain lawmaker decisions simply by pointing to campaign contributions. 
• Election money is different from expenditures for inside and outside lobbying. Do not confuse them.
• The rules for federal campaigns are different from the rules for state and local campaigns.  We will talk more about state and local money next week.
• When candidates say they will refuse contributions from lobbyists, they are not denying that they will take contributions from the interests that employ the lobbyists.
• When candidates say that they will refuse contributions from PACs, they are not denying that they will take contributions from the people who give to the PACs.
• By definition, outside money (Super PACs and 501(c)(4) money) does not go directly to candidates.  
• If you ignore these distinctions in your papers, I will know that you have not been paying attention.

Political Money  

• ACCESS MONEY v. BELIEF MONEY.
• Compare NRA in 1990 with NRA in 2022
• Abortion 
• For economic interest groups, a key variable is chamber control:  consider insurance, casinos, banks

Limits

• A timeline of efforts to curb campaign money
• Federal limits

Types of PACs

• PAC trends
• Foreign-connected PACs

The Citizens United Effect

• The decision
• Speech Now and Super PACs
• Dark money.  Super PAC money and dark money are different: contributions to Super PACs are not secret -- but there are loopholes...
• Colbert and Potter explain it
• Trends

Loopholes

• Bundling and "disclosure"
• McCutcheon (Schatzinger, p 30) and Joint Fundraising Committees -- examples from 2016