The limits in the presidential system are voluntary. Ross Perot and Steve Forbes decided not to abide by them. More far-reaching inducements to candidates to voluntarily limit their spending, like providing clean public money for all congressional elections, would also pass constitutional muster. A nother difficult but not insurmountable problem is the growing use of phony issue ads to make an end-run around contribution limits and the prohibition on corporate contributions to federal elections. Most of the money the political parties raise goes to pay for TV ads.
Television is the single greatest expense for most candidates.
Thus we've seen the rise of ads that claim to be about important issues, but actually are thinly veiled campaign advertisements. In 1996, one ad accused a candidate of beating his wife. Triad Management, a Washington, D.C.-based political consulting firm run by a former fundraiser for Oliver North, helped steer wealthy donors to the group. Buckley itself permits the regulation of ads that expressly advocate the election or defeat of candidates. Phony issue ads funded by corporations should not dominate and distort the electoral debate.