The trend of attacking your opponent at presidential campaign level has drifted down to other election campaigns. In the 1988 gubernatorial election for North Carolina, chimpanzees were used to represent the Republican candidate in Democrat television advert. In 1990, in Texas, the Democrat gubernatorial candidate stood in front of enlarged photos of men he had had executed to demonstrate that he was in favour of the death penalty while stating that his opponent was soft on crime. The increasing popularity of negative advertising stems from evidence that they are far more successful than positive campaigning in arousing voter interest. Negative adverts also put opponents on the defensive and invariably they have to produce a negative response themselves which simply spirals the process of negative campaigning.
Voters appear to be voting for a candidate who appeals the most.
Therefore, those who have access to the public via the media would logically have a greater chance of success. Access to the media can only be gained as a result of access to money. Raising money is now down to the individual. FECA was designed so that elections meant less about money and more about the issues at stake. Ironically political success in America now seems to depend more than ever on individuals and their ability to raise money and even less on issues.