Title: Campaign Finance: How do candidates get their money to run for office?
1Campaign FinanceHow do candidates get their
money to run for office?
2Washington on Campaign Spending
- 28 gallons rum
- 50 gallons rum punch
- 34 gallons wine
- 46 gallons beer
- 2 gallons cider royal
- There were only 391 eligible voters in his
district!
3Lincoln on Campaign Spending
- I did not need the money. I made my own
entertainment, being at the houses of friends,
cost me nothing and my only outlay was 0.75 for
a barrel of cider.
4How much did it cost to run for president in 2012?
887 million (up 520 million from 2004)
777 million (up 410 million from 2004)
5What do candidates spend the on?
2008
6Where does that come from?
- 1.) Individual contributions to
- parties (per year)
- individual candidates (per election)
- 2.) Political Action Committees (PACs)
- 3.) Super PACs
- FEDERAL LAWS RESTRICT HOW MUCH MONEY CAN BE
SPENT FOR EACH OF THE ABOVE
71.) Individual Contributions
- Federal Law limits individual people to spending
- 30,800 to a political party per year
- 2,500 to a candidate per election
Senators John McCain (left) and Russ Feingold
(right), authors of the law that limited campaign
spending.
82.) Political Action Committees (PACs)
- Interest groups who contribute to candidates
- Mostly centered around a certain issue (labor,
business, environment, etc.) - Donation Limits
- can give 5,000/election to a candidate
- can give up to 15,000/year to a political party
- Required by law to report spending
9So how do these guys get to contribute so much?
103.) Super PACs
- Federal law requires that PACs spend no more than
20,000 per year on an election for a candidate - Super PACs spend billions per year. How so?
- Rather than donate it to a specific party or
candidate, they spend unlimited amounts of money
for general purposes - Phone calls
- Pamphlets/billboards/signs
- Etc.
11Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow
- Super PAC created by Stephen Colbert as a parody
of the ridiculous campaign spending - Raised over 1.8 million in donations
Stephen Colbert Video
12Super PACs in 2012
- Liberal agenda
- Priorities USA (66m)
- Majority PAC (37m)
- Women Vote! (7.5m)
- Conservative Agenda
- Restore our Future (142m)
- American Crossroads (104m)
- Freedom Works for America (19m)
13Super PACs
14Super PACs
15Super PACs
16PACs vs. Super PACs
- PACs
- Can only donate
- 5,000 per candidate per election
- 15,000 to a party per year
- Money given directly to candidates
- Must report their donations
- Super PACs
- Can donate unlimited amounts of money
- Money cannot be given directly to candidates
- Can be spent to publish information about a
candidate - Donations can be anonymous
17Exit Ticket
- 1.) To what degree do you agree or disagree
(evaluate) with the limits on individual and PAC
contributions? Or should they be unlimited like
Super PACs? - 2.) Obama and Romney raised over 2 billion this
past election, a record in the history of US
elections. Should there be an overall limit on
the amount they raise (interpretation)? If so,
how much? If not, why? Explain. - 3.) Create a question you would like to ask the
next presidential nominees that centers on the
issue of campaign finance.
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