Despite hostile courts, can our campaign-finance system be reformed from the bottom up?
Campaign Spending
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
This Just In: We Are Officially in a New Gilded Age
Yesterday, The New York Times dropped an investigative bombshell that confirmed in detail what most of us already know: The ultra-rich are in control of our electoral process. As the Times reports, just 158 families have contributed nearly half of all the money raised so far for the numerous presidential campaigns. “Not since before Watergate,” […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Bernie Wants to Get Money Out of Politics. So Where’s His Plan?
While Bernie isn’t short on rhetoric about getting money out of politics, he remains curiously short on specifics. For the past couple months, I’ve been chronicling the emerging debate over the role of money in politics and the increased calls for campaign-finance reform within the Democratic field. The most notable development in the political discourse […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
If Small Donors Were Amplified, Bernie Would Be the Frontrunner
Under public-financing plans proposed by candidates like Clinton, Bernie’s grassroots fundraising would put him over the top.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Walker Walks Away from the GOP Race
The New York Times is reporting that this evening, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker will announce that he’s dropping out of contention for the GOP presidential nomination. Though he was once a frontrunner in Iowa, his campaign has long been struggling for notoriety-a chronic problem now for many candidates competing with The Donald. The latest CNN […]
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Why Major Parties Want Big Donors to Ditch Super PACs
In 2014, the Supreme Court dealt yet another blow to campaign finance regulations as it did away with contribution limits to political parties. The case, McCutcheon v. FEC, overturned the tenet of Federal Election Campaign Act that imposed individual aggregate contribution limits to national political parties and federal candidate committees. While Citizens United created a […]
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Is Hillary’s New Campaign Finance Reform Plan the Real Deal?
Even if she’s just trying to keep up with Sanders, her plan to overhaul campaign finance has reformers talking.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The For-Profit College Industry Is Losing its Most Loyal Politician
Congressman John Kline is not exactly a household name, even to D.C. politicos. And for the past dozen years, he’s preferred it that way. Kline has successfully flown under the radar while quietly becoming one of the most powerful politicians on education policy, reaching his apex in 2011 when he took the helm of the […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Rick Perry’s Broke Campaign and Our Broken System
Running out of money isn’t a problem for campaigns anymore, as long as they have billionaire-backed super PACs to do the work.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
O’Malley Joins Sanders in Calling for Public Campaign Finance
Yesterday, Democratic presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley added a new plank to his campaign platform: public campaign financing for congressional elections within five years. The former Maryland governor had previously supported a public-funding model in his state and had hinted on the campaign trail that he would come out with a substantive policy on the federal […]