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March 20, 2013
The Electoral Environment
Interest Group Profile Due next Wednesday in class
Details and rubric posted
Remember: Make an ARGUMENT
Thesis is not a statement of fact- it must be arguable
Efficacy, influence, representation
SUPPORT your argument with evidence (specific examples)
Pay attention to writing- read your paper out loud, make sure paragraphs focus on 1-2 ideas, transition between topics, small paragraphs (a paragraph should not be longer than a page)
*SIGNIFICANCE* (why should we care?)
Look at late policy
Setting the Stage
2010 and 2012
More fundraising entities
More money flowing into elections
BIG QUESTION: How has the regulatory
environment changed over time? Do we see
trends towards more or less regulation of interest
group involvement in elections?
2012 Election
Super PACs and spending
http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/campaign-
finance
Campaign Finance Reform I
1974 Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA)
Disclosure
Contribution and Spending Limits
Spending
FEC
Consequences/Results
Why is the FEC considered a “toothless watchdog” (Washington Post, 2012)?
What is Soft Money?
The “soft money loophole”
Vocabulary: Independent
Expenditures
Independent Expenditures-spending to
expressly advocate for the election or defeat of a
candidate
Not coordinated with a candidate or campaign
Can spend unlimited amounts
Interest Group Entities
Political Action Committees
527 Committees
501(c) Organizations
Super PACs
Group Activity
The following groups/individuals want to get involved (or continue their involvement) in influencing elections. Given the goals of these individuals/organizations, what would be the one fundraising entity they would be most likely to choose?
As a group, choose the entity that would best serve the goals of the individual/group shown on the slide 527 Committee
Super PAC
PAC
501 (c) organization
Former President
George W. Bush
Smith & Wesson (A gun manufacturing
company)
Westboro Baptist Church
AFL-CIO
PETA
Pitt Quidditch Team
Clarifying Bundling
1. An individual or group (the “bundler”) collects and
delivers the contributions in a “bundle” to a candidate
The value of “taking credit” for donations
EMILY's List
In-Kind Contributions
In-kind contributions from PACs- subjected to same
individual contribution limits (value of $5000 per
candidate/per campaign)
Why make in-kind contributions? Why not just give
candidates the money?
Recent Campaigns
Obama and his campaign refuse to take PAC
money. Why?
The New Status of 501 (c)s
Why are campaigns using 501(c) groups to
fundraise?
Pros and cons
Why have they been nicknamed “shadow
organizations”?
Next Week..
Communicating with voters
Issue advocacy
Endorsement
Voting Guides and Scorecards
Paper Workshop Exercise1. Write your name on the upper right-hand side of the paper
2. Pass your paper and thesis/topic on to someone for review
3. Reviewer #1: Write your comments in the LEFT-HAND column. Pass your paper on when the time is up.
4. Reviewer #2: write your comments in the RIGHT-HAND column. Pass your paper on when the time is up.
5. Reviewer #3: Turn paper over. Write your comments in the LEFT-HAND column. Pass your paper on when the time is up.
4. Reviewer #4: Write your comments in the RIGHT-HAND column. Return your paper to the original author.