DOI: 10.3886/icpsr08937.v1
title: Campaign Expenditures in the United States, 1985-1986: Reports on Financial Activity (RFA) Data
title: Version 1

description: These data are produced in conjunction with Federal Election 
 Commission (FEC) Reports On Financial Activity (RFA) and are taken 
 directly from campaign finance reports filed by political committees 
 and others who are required to file under the federal election laws. 
 The data present summary information concerning filers' gross receipts, 
 disbursements, debts, cash on hand, etc. They also include information 
 on particular party and nonparty committee support of individual 
 candidates. The data for United States congressional campaigns supply 
 summarized information about the campaign, including the candidate's 
 name, incumbency status, party affiliation, receipts, disbursements, 
 contributions from the candidate, loans, debts, aggregate contributions 
 by amount and source, and independent expenditures for and against the 
 candidate. The party and nonparty political committee data contain 
 summary information for committees including the committee name, 
 special-interest group classification, receipts, cash and in-kind 
 contributions made and received, disbursements, debts, and total 
expenditures for and against House and Senate candidates.
description: Complete information is provided for all members of the 
 sampling universe. An exception is made in the "Party Committee" 
 files, which include only Democratic and Republican committees rather 
than all committees registered with the FEC.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: House and Senate Spread Data
DS2: House and Senate Crosstabs Data
DS3: Party Committee Spread Data
DS4: Party Committee Crosstabs Data
DS5: Non-Party Committee Spread Data
DS6: Non-Party Committee Crosstabs Data
description: (1) Campaigns of all individuals who have registered with 
 the FEC under the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) as 1985 or 1986 
 candidates for the United States Senate or House of Representatives, or 
 who have been certified by state authorities as official Senate or 
 House candidates in a 1985 or 1986 primary, runoff, or general election 
 but who have not registered as candidates under the FECA. (2) Party and 
non-party political committees registered with the FEC.
description: For each of the three main types of data in this 
 collection--House/Senate, party political committee, and nonparty 
 political committee--there are two types of data files. The "spread" 
 file contains one record for each campaign (House/Senate file) or 
 committee (committee files). The "crosstabs" file contains one or 
 more records per campaign or committee. For each candidate/filer or 
 committee/candidate combination, there is a separate record that 
 summarizes information about contributions and expenditures (for or 
 against) a candidate. Data in this collection will not include any 
 amendments to reports covering the period January 1, 1985 through 
 December 31, 1986, that were received by the FEC after January 1988. 
 This collection is part of a data series that contains the following 
 previously released collections: CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURES IN THE UNITED 
 STATES, 1977-1978 AND 1979-1980 (ICPSR 8158), CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURES IN 
 THE UNITED STATES, 1981-1982 (ICPSR 8238), and CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURES IN 
THE UNITED STATES, 1983-1984 (ICPSR 8511).