do presidential✪ Howcandidates
pay for theircampaigns?

Since 1976, candidates for president
have been eligible to participate ina public financing system to pay for
their campaigns. Until the 2000 elections, allcandidates nominated for president participated in thissystem by accepting government funds in exchange fora promise not to spend more than a specified amount.
However, this system has become increasingly
unappealing to candidates because the imposed spending
limit is considered too low—and less than the amountthat major candidates can often raise from private sources.
Consequently, some recent presidential candidates have
opted out of public funding and instead raised money
to fund their campaigns.

• p ARTy NoMINEESCAN USE pUblIC
FUNDS To
CAMpAIGN FoR
pRESIDENT, bUT
THEy CAN'T USE
pUblIC FUNDS
To CAMpAIGN FoRNoMINATIoNS IN
THE pRIMARIESAND CAUCUSES.

38• C A mp AI g NS

for candidates who raise their own funds,
federal law dictates how and from whom candidates
for president, senator and representative may seek
contributions. It also limits how much any individual
contributor can give. The law ensures that the press andcitizens know who is contributing to a given candidate.
A candidate for president must establish a campaign
organization, called a political committee, and register
it with the federal Election Commission. once registered,political committees may seek contributions but must
report all funds raised to the commission, which makes
the information available to the public. recent major-party
presidential candidates have spent hundreds of millionsof dollars on their campaigns. Those who raise their own
funds must find thousands of contributors.

do U.S. presidential✪ Whycampaigns cost so much?

• polITICAl
CANdIdATES
mUST rAISE
moNEy
To TrAvEl
To wHErE
voTErSlIvE.

The short answer is that it is expen­
sive to communicate to a nation of
100 million voters for the 12 or moremonths that make up the presidential campaign
season. U.S. presidential candidates must campaign atthe national level as well as in the 50 states. This meansthat they must hire both national and state-level staff
and reach voters in person and through national andlocal television, radio and social media. The proliferationof presidential primaries and caucuses has resulted inlonger campaigns that involve more travel and purchased
media coverage than in the past.
To campaign for office, a candidate needs tohire staff; arrange for office space and travel; conduct
research; issue position papers; advertise on radio
and television, in publications and on the Internet;
and conduct numerous public appearances and fundraising events.
Candidates for president have the daunting taskof organizing their primary campaigns state by state
and then, if nominated, their general election campaign
throughout the nation. A candidate for the House ofrepresentatives will campaign in his or her specificcongressional district, while a Senate candidate mustcover an entire state.

41• C A mp AI g NS•

candidates have
✪ Do
access to other sourcesof funding?

• polITICAl
SIGNS oF
CANDIDATESFoR VARIoUS
oFFICES lINE
A NEIGHboRHooD STREETIN HoUSToN,
TExAS.

In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled thatpolitical spending is a form of speech
and thus protected by the First Amend­
ment to the U.S. Constitution. As a result,since 2010, candidates can spend an unlimited amountof their own money to fund their campaigns.
The ruling also gave greater leeway to “politicalaction committees” (pACs), which are formed when
individuals, businesses and interest groups pool theirmoney and donate it to support specific ideas, candidates, ballot initiatives or legislation. According
to federal law, an organization becomes a pAC when
it receives or spends more than $2,600 for thepurpose of influencing a federal election. States havetheir own laws governing when an organization
becomes a pAC.
because they are independent of a candidate’s
official fundraising committee, pACs are not subject tothe same regulations—even though they must registerwith the Federal Election Commission—but they are
limited in how closely they can coordinate with candidates. For example, a pAC cannot contribute more than
$5,000 directly to a candidate’s election committee, but
it can spend an unlimited amount of money to run ads
that advocate or oppose a specific candidate’s views.

43• C AMPAI G NS•