interest groups and the electoral environment

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.