In general, how can a group help a candidate?

• Training

• Endorsement

• Advertise candidate to group members

• Encourage group members to volunteer

• Contribute money

• Pay for independent expenditures

Training

From NWPC’s Training Seminar for Women Candidates

• “Candidates must have a strong ego, but many women area afraid to blow their own horn. Go ahead and brag about your strong points.

• Control your emotions, especially anger or tears. Avoid tilting your head or using other body language that suggests a lack of confidence.

• Recognize that some voters question a woman’s leadership skills. Highlight any experience that shows you leading others or making tough decisions.

• Prepare answers for stupid questions. For example, “what does your husband think about your candidacy?’ Possible response: ‘He supports me and recognizes that my background and work in our community make me the best candidate for this office.”

GOPAC

• Training seminars teaching officeholders how to use their incumbency to their advantage

• How to communicate in different media (speeches, debates, media, ads)

• Advice on fundraising: “If this is your first time running for office and you have not had the opportunity to adequately introduce yourself to the local donor community, third party letters can be a better vehicle for gaining credibility and acceptance in these circles…”

GOPAC

• Training seminars teaching officeholders how to use their incumbency to their advantage

• How to communicate in different media (speeches, debates, media, ads)

• Advice on fundraising: “If this is your first time running for office and you have not had the opportunity to adequately introduce yourself to the local donor community, third party letters can be a better vehicle for gaining credibility and acceptance in these circles…”

Money

2 types of Political Action Committees (FEC definitions)

Separate Segregated Funds: political committees established and administered by corporations, labor unions, membership organizations or trade associations.

Can only solicit contributions from individuals associated with connected or sponsoring organization.

Get money from sponsoring organization, not subject to disclosure requirements.

Nonconnected committees--not sponsored by or connected to any above organization

Get contributions from the general public. 

Multi-candidate committee rules

• Non-connected multi-candidate PACs

• Can accept $5000 from an individual

• Can give $5000 to a candidate

• Can give $15,000 to a party committee

• No limits on overall spending

Other ways to give money

• Bundling

Contributor Total Recipient

EMILY's List $891,064 Betty Castor (D-Fla)

Goldman Sachs $588,870 Jon S. Corzine (D-NJ)

EMILY's List $494,211 Jean Carnahan (D-Mo)

EMILY's List $476,789 Deborah Ann Stabenow (D-Mich)

EMILY's List $426,645 Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)

EMILY's List $374,814 Barbara Boxer (D-Calif)

EMILY's List $359,667 Patty Murray (D-Wash)

EMILY's List $349,862 Inez Tenenbaum (D-SC)

Goldman Sachs $282,090 Charles E. Schumer (D-NY)

Citigroup Inc $241,100 Charles E. Schumer (D-NY)

Wachovia Corp $224,200 Erskine B. Bowles (D-NC)

Goldman Sachs $214,161 Jack Ryan (R-Ill)

Citigroup Inc $190,150 Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY)

MBNA Corp $164,750 Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine)

Blank Rome LLP $162,000 Arlen Specter (R-Pa)

Springs Industries $161,625 Erskine B. Bowles (D-NC)

Club for Growth $154,997 John Thune (R-SD)

MBNA Corp $147,700 Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del)

Cost of campaigns

2000 House:

• Ave. expenditures: $693,952

• Incumbents’ ave. expenditures: $814,507

• Challengers’ ave. expenditures: $369,823

Where does money come from?House candidates' ave. funding sources,

2000

Candidate11%

Individuals51%

Other5%

Party2%

PACs31%

Individuals PACs Party Candidate Other

Where does money come from?Senate candidates' funding sources, 2000

PACs13%

Party4%

Candidate24%

Other6%

Individuals53%

Individuals PACs Party Candidate Other

Fundraising9.40%

TV21.80%

Staff salaries17.80%

Other comm.3.90%

Travel 2.5%

Polling2.1%Direct mail

8.10%

Radio ads12.30%

Newspaper ads .4%

Voter reg/GOTV

1.30%

Campaign literature

8.00%

Overhead10.50%

Budget of a typical House campaign

PAC Contribution Strategies

• To buy Access– Both parties– Committee chairs– Incumbents only

• To affect ideological composition of Congress– Challengers too– In close races

• Don’t give money at all

Independent Expenditures

(2004, includes presidential)

Organization Name TotalIndependentExpenditures

CommunicationCosts

AFL-CIO $32,445,482 $248,106 $32,197,376

National Rifle Assn $32,172,212 $22,781,556 $9,390,656

National Education Assn $22,577,318 $9,648,112 $12,929,206

American Fedn of St/Cnty/Munic Employees

$19,929,274 $12,668,447 $7,260,827

National Assn of Realtors $17,760,086 $9,465,102 $8,294,984

Service Employees International Union $11,726,149 $8,507,333 $3,218,816

American Medical Assn $11,398,258 $10,330,696 $1,067,562

United Auto Workers $6,182,704 $5,159,889 $1,022,815

American Federation of Teachers $5,639,769 $227,902 $5,411,867

EMILY's List $3,979,405 $3,979,405 $0

International Assn of Fire Fighters $2,813,920 $1,587,277 $1,226,643

Teamsters Union $1,897,771 $426,361 $1,471,410

Communications Workers of America $1,783,067 $300,506 $1,482,561

United Food & Commercial Workers Union

$1,305,123 $107,181 $1,197,942

Human Rights Campaign $1,014,423 $1,006,374 $8,049

Natl Cmte to Preserve Social Security $930,273 $761,807 $168,466

Credit Union National Association $639,119 $638,619 $500

What should a group consider when deciding whether to

back a candidate?

What should a group consider before backing a candidate?

• Agreement with group’s goals

• Likelihood of winning

• Potential repercussions from the opposition

Interview, Executive Director, Texas Chapter of the Sierra Club

• Q Does Sierra Club ever endorse in primaries?• A. Yes we do endorse in primaries. We did not

endorse in [The 2002 Texas Senate] primary for a variety of reasons. The process within the Sierra Club for a national office like senator or US house of Representatives, takes more than one layer of the club to endorse. So in Texas our Executive Committee had to make the recommendation to the national organization and the national committee would have had to make the endorsement…

• There was some interest at the national political committee at some point about endorsing [Dallas Mayor Ron] Kirk, but I believe that came after the primary elections were over not before. The bottom line is we’d have had to have gotten an approval at our level, before going to the national level and there wasn’t any way that there would have been an endorsement for Kirk in the primary, because of the opposition from the Sierra Club people in Dallas and other environmentalists in Dallas.

•  Bentsen had a fairly good environmental record, but he did not support a critical Sierra Club position on a trade issue and so that was something that was a problem in terms of making an potential endorsement for Bentsen.

• Morales, we had eventually endorsed him in an election when he ran earlier against (Former Texas Republican Senator Phil) Gramm. But at this particular juncture there was not a willingness to endorse him, because there were a great deal of questions that he was not a credible candidate at that point. And his positions that he stated in the previous campaign, were good from the environmental standpoint, but there was not any particular track record to go on.

• Question: does the Sierra Club pick its candidates on positions on issues or because they can win?

• The leadership of the Sierra Club at both the state and national level are fairly sophisticated in understanding that we are better off going with someone who can win who also has a better environmental record or positions than their opponent. In fact one of the criteria in Sierra Club selection process is electability.

In what ways might we say that candidates are beholden to interest groups for running

campaigns?

If this is the case, is that okay?

If not, there any remedy?