Assignment 2: Purchasing Congressional Elections In The United States

From the very first elections held in the United States, there has always been a strong link between money and politics. During the first elections in the late 1700’s you had to be a white male landowner over the age of 21 in order to vote, meaning that you had to have money in order to have your vote counted. It seems today that we cannot go a day with out seeing campaign finance in the media, whether or not it is through advertisements for politicians in the media or asked to donate money to help let your favorite candidate win. Because campaign finance has always been on the back burner of political issues, there has hardly been any change to the large influence money has over the election process and politicians. While money has it’s

Campaign Finance reform has been a topic of interest throughout the history of the United States Government, especially in the more recent decades. There are arguments on both sides of the issue. Proponents of campaign finance limits argue that wealthy donors and corporations hold too much power in elections and as a result they can corrupt campaigns. Those who favor less regulation argue that campaign donations are a form of free speech. One case in particular, Citizens United vs. The Federal Election Commission has altered everything with pertaining to Campaign Finance.

In the UK, the 2010 election cost $75m, far less than America’s numbers which the two candidates combined can easily reach the billions. President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney spent a combined $30.33every second the election cycle in 2012, as a binge of campaign spending deluged voters with rallies, banners, and of course, TV ads.

Fundraising success correlates strongly with electoral success. In 2002, 95 percent of House winners raised more than their opponents. In 2004, more than 95 percent of House winners outspent their opponents. (4 “Money Is the Victor in 2002 Midterm Elections,” Center for Responsive Politics, Nov. 6, 2002. 5 “2004 Election Outcome: Money Wins,” Center for Responsive Politics, Nov. 3,

Winning a campaign is a huge of a Deal. It is not an easy work to do. Also it cost a tons of money in order to win a campaign. Advertisement is one of the best way to promote yourself. But what you need to know before making an advertisement is What strategies should we use in order to get people's attention. There are many different strategies on making an advertisement but three best are Stacking the deck, Glittering Generalities, and Guilt by association. Each candidate are given $1 million to spend on campaign propaganda , advertisement.

In the 2016 election cycle, over 1.4 billion dollars was given to presidential candidates (Federal Election Commission 2016a). This is more than any other presidential election cycle in history (Price 2016). Another billion dollars was given to U.S. House of Representatives candidates, and about 600 million dollars was given to U.S. Senate candidates (Federal Election Commission 2016b). The majority of this money went to funding the candidates’ campaigns. This money controlled whose ads voter’s saw on television and which candidates were able to afford to travel the country campaigning for votes. In many cases, the candidate with the most money available won their election. Most campaigns are financed in large part by a small number

The Democratic and Republican presidential nominees for 1999 raised an astounding 126 million to finance their campaigns in the primaries (Godfrey). The U.S. national political parties raised a record 107.2 million dollars in soft money contributions in 1999 (Campaign Finance Reform). During the 1995-96 elections, public citizens estimated that an astounding 150 million dollars was spent on "phony" issue ads designed to support or oppose congressional and presidential candidates (Campaign Finance Reform). This outrageous influx of money into congressional and presidential campaigns has placed a blanket of corruption and injustice over our nation’s elections. With the rise of campaign corruption, many

If there are any other fundraisers for National Convention they will be posted to the chapter facebook and put into the newspaper. Thank you for supporting the students of Surprise Valley and helping them go on a once in a lifetime trip!

The number of seats for Texas Senate is declining on every up-coming election. It will be tougher and difficult to get a seat of out of 15 on next election. In order to run a proper election there will need a certain amount of money. For this types of stuffs, the offices and parties have their own techniques to do. There are also various procedures to raise the funds. We cannot go and directly ask money everywhere. Every candidate must file a campaign treasurer appointment whether they are collecting money or not. For that, we should look for donors and make them believe about our current plans, policies and what we are going to contribute after winning the election. We should also give them an appropriate reason to support us. In my view making a very trustful environment among donors and picking the donors is very challenging one too. So, to choose the donor we should select the one that would be more benefitted by our victory.

The Campaign According to the Texas Tribute website, Texas candidates have spent from $0 to $70,805.43 that in from $0 per vote to $61.52 per vote in 2016 general election. Analyzing the website, I figured out that the most important aspect to win the election is not the amount spent but the strategies used. 1 Brandon Creighton has spent $0.39 per vote that is $93,194.21 and has been elected as a Texas senate in district 4. Carlos I. 1 Uresti has spent 243,160.84 that is $1.82 per vote and has been elected. As I am going to run as a Texas senate, I plan to spend about 150,000.

Candidates are allowed to have a maximum of: $2,700 per election, limit applies separately to each election. Primaries, runoffs and general elections are considered separate elections. $5,000 per calendar year to a PAC (political action committee) that supports the candidate and to fund other election-related activities. $10,000 per calendar year to a State or local party committee. $33,400 per calendar year to a national party committee. $100 in currency (cash) to any political committee. (Anonymous cash contributions may not exceed $50.) Contributions exceeding $100 must be made by check, money order or other written instrument “Fec gov”. End of the year financial reports filed with the Federal Election Commission shed some light on where congressional candidates are positioning themselves ahead of the June primary and, looking further, to the general election in November. Philanthropist Susie Lee reported $646,563 cash-on-hand and took in $724,774 in contributions during 2015. She's also lent her campaign $150,000, filings show. Her cash-on-hand comes within striking distance of Hardy's war chest. He reported $659,592 cash-on-hand in his filing. Lee also had support from the gaming industry, including $5,400 from Horn buckle,

Deciding to run for the Texas State Senate, was a life-changing decision. The effort I had to put into this campaign was extraordinarily time-consuming, but the end is almost near, and I know it will all be worth it. Running for office in Texas will not only cost thousands of dollars, but the number of votes will also matter to me. By the end of this campaign, I am sure I will not only win the elections for the people but also change the perspective of my voters. Because I know if you have the materials needed to succeed, you will achieve.

“Twenty-first-century election campaigns are structure to garner the most favorable media exposure reaching the largest number of prospective supporters, with the greatest degree of candidate control over the message”. (Dunaway & Graber 2009. Pg. 315) Media in regards to political advertising is much more narrower. Some candidates are primarily interested in voters who preference the outcome of the race instead of the process of the election. A great example is President Obama in 2008, had little interest in any media markets in California because he expected to win by a comfortable

I’m asking you to renew your support for Evidence for Democracy and its work to strengthen our democracy by ensuring that public-interest science and evidence are integrated into government decision-making by making a year-end donation today. We are already engaging in strategic government relations, further mobilizing the science community to educate more Canadians about evidence-based decision-making, and monitoring the political and policy landscape to evaluate Canada’s progress. But your year-end donation of $75, $100, $150 will help us hit the ground running in 2016 to ensure we have maximum impact.

Banner ads are small rectangular advertisements that when clicked upon will take you to the advertiser’s Web site. They vary in appearances and generally advertisers will try to be creative. Banner ads allow business to not only inform the viewer, but also to create interest. Oxfam decided against using banner ads in their advertising campaign for their relief work in Sedan for Ugandan refugees. They relied solely on email advertising; which ended up generating high revenue. Although this method was effective, I think they also could have done banner ads as well. Oxfam could have had showed pictures of the refugees as long with an enticing message to gather awareness for their cause. Although this might not generate as much