U.S. presidential election is going “soft” for the moment

By Lefteris Eleftheriou

 

On November of 1976, when Jimmy Carter was elected President of the United States, the total amount of money which was spent by all Democrat and Republican presidential candidates was 66 million dollars. In 1992, when Bill Clinton defeated the incumbent George Bush this amount climbed to 192.2 million. During the last presidential campaign of 2004, when George W. Bush defeated Senator John Kerry, candidates spent almost 718 million.

The amount of money which will be spent for the upcoming presidential campaign period, which has already started, is expected to break all previous records. Contenders are expected to spend something close to, or more, than a billion of dollars.

So far, 19 candidates, 11 of whom are Republicans and 8 Democrats, have already registered their candidacy already in the Federal Election Commission (FEC) so they can legally accept money from donors and spend it for their endeavors to get the ticket for the White House.

The two Democratic Senators – Hilary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois – lead the Presidential candidates’ money race. Hilary has collected 36 million and Obama 25.7 million.

The FEC website informs us also that the Republican former Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, leads the rest of his partisan candidates with 23.1 million in hand and he is followed by the former Mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, who counts 18 million.

An important factor of the American campaign finance law is the distinction between the so called “soft money” and “hard money”.

“Hard money” is raised only by the candidate. The donors are individuals and Political Action Committees (PAC). All Presidential candidates have raised, up to now, 157 million “hard” dollars, which might be used for media advertising and other form of direct expression to support their campaign or, to attack their opponents through commercials.

Each contributor might donate up to 2,300 dollars for each election according to the law. However, the primary election, which is the process for party members to elect the candidate who will be supported by the Party in the final contest, is considered a different process from the general election. Therefore, the amount of money each individual might donate for each election cycle is calculated to 4,600 dollars.

“Soft money” on the other hand, is raised by the political parties and other entities. The law has no restriction as to the amount of each contributor, corporation or PAC may donate. As a result, millions of “soft” dollars are collected every election cycle.

“Soft money” might be used for the support of the candidate’s campaign but not for direct express of advocate. This means that “soft money” might be used for commercials, but the script, might not contain phrases like “vote for” or “do not vote for.” The American political finance law states also that “soft money” may be used for voters’ registration; party and building activities and promotion of legislations.

According to the FEC, candidates are currently spending most of their money on campaign managers and other professionals such us pollsters, fundraisers and software developers. Campaign money also goes to computer equipment, furniture and airline tickets. Television ads, which absorb the biggest part of campaigns’ budget, do not appear in the FEC documents yet because it is too soon for such an action.

* Lefteris Eleftheriou has an MA in Political Campaign Management and is currently Marketing and Sales Manager at Creditinfo Cyprus.