Study for the AP Exam- Campaigning and PACs

Buckley v. Valeo (1976) Supreme Court ruling which upheld certain campaign finance limits yet also recognized the donation of money to the political process as a constitutional right protected by the 1st Amendment.

Bundling In this practice, small donations are combined and delivered to campaigns by an individual or group. It's a way for an interest group to stay within legal limits on individual contributions, yet demonstrate its money-raising prowess. The McCain-Feingold legislation would ban most instances of bundling.

FEC The Federal Election Commission. Founded in 1974, it is the federal agency that oversees federal campaigns. It's considered something of a toothless watchdog, however. It has proven to be very slow to act and not very effective in combatting campaign abuses.

Full Disclosure Many Republicans believe that in the debate over in money and politics, what really matters is knowing where candidates' money is coming from. "Full disclosure" simply refers to a process whereby candidates would be required to disclose publicly the source of all their campaign contributions.

Independent Expenditures Some groups spend money on activities that support presidential candidates, but have no direct link to the candidate's campaign, and thereby are able to get around spending limits. An example of this was the infamous "Willie Horton" ad that attacked Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis' prison furlough policy in Massachusetts. Though the ad was clearly designed to buttress President Bush's re-election effort, the group that made the ad was independent of the Bush campaign. Today we call these 527 groups.

McCain-Feingold Refers to a bill sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) that would ban soft money, ban PAC contributions and provide incentives (free broadcasting, lower media costs, lower postal costs) to candidates to abide by spending limits.

PACs Political action committees are essentially groups of individuals united by similar interests. They range from business groups to labor groups to single-issue groups. By law, they can only donate $5,000 per candidate per election.

Public Financing To lessen the need for constant fund-raising and level the playing field for challengers, many reformers favor having the federal government pay all or part of the cost of campaigns. Democrats generally favor the idea; Republicans generally oppose it.

Soft Money These are funds raised by the political parties that are used, ostensibly, only for party building efforts and not for direct support of federal candidates. In practice, most believe the money ends up helping candidates just as much as the party organizations. Currently, there is no limit on what the parties can raise.