INTEREST GROUPS
[We will look at some of the major components and sources in campaign finance within the 2016 presidential race.]
We will use the 2016 presidential election (opensecrets.org) links to initially understand all components and the COMPLETE process of fundraising for candidates in a presidential election.
The following exercise for the topics on presidential election fundraise, and sources of finance will direct students through links for the 2016 presidential election. The links will direct students to important components of candidates’ fundraising sources.
Topic: Campaign Finance and Politicians: Money and the 2016 Presidential Race
Comparing the Candidates’ Finance:
-Summary Comparison of Presidential Candidates’ Cash Raised and Spent on 2016 Presidential Election:
By using http://www.opensecrets.org/elections/ (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. students can analyze by percentage and the summary comparison of presidential candidates’ cash raised and spent.
Under the “Politicians & Elections’ heading click on ‘Presidential.’> then you will see ‘2016 Presidential Race’ or “Presidential’ heading /frame first. Under heading, click on ' Campaign Funding by Candidate.'
-Breakdown of a Presidential Candidate’s Sources of Finance Status for 2016 Presidential Election:
By using http://www.opensecrets.org/elections/ (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. students can analyze a summary and details on specific candidates’ finance.
Under the “Politicians & Elections’ heading click on ‘Presidential.’> then you will see ‘2016 Presidential Race.’
To ANALYZE how much money each candidate received from certain sources: Choose or click on any ‘sections’ on the left navigation area. You will see the names of each candidate. When/after you choose a candidate, click on each of that candidate’s horizontal tabs above with [blue font] titles such as, ‘Geography’, 'Industries,' 'Contributors' or ‘Donor Demographics (by gender),’ ‘Expenditures, and 'Outside (Finance),' classifications.
For example, click on ‘Industries,’ to see how much money a candidate received from industries such as lobbyists, casinos, banks, lawyers, etc.
-Comparison of Two or More Presidential Candidates’ Sources of Finance:
To COMPARE each candidates’ finances and breakdown of finances, students can repeat the same thread as above for analysis of Breakdown of Presidential Candidates' Source of Finance for EACH candidates.
-Looking at a Specific Candidate’s Political Action Committees (PAC), *Super PACs and Outside Spending/ Finance:
Some candidates (such as Mitt Romney (R) and Barack Obama (D)) may have large budgets from *Super PACs or Independent ‘Outside’ Expenditures. (Opensecrets may have additional horizontal tabs or finance information page on the website for a candidate.)
*Super PACs- Since the 2010 election there are new political committee called "Super PACs". They are officially known as "independent-expenditure only committees". They can also raise unlimited sums from individuals, corporations, unions and other groups.[Two court judicial decisions made Super PACs possible. Firstly, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. that government may not prohibit unions and corporations from making independent expenditures about politics. Secondly, in the case of Speechnow.org v. FEC (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_finance_evolution_in_2010#SpeechNOW.org_v_FEC (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. the Federal Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that contributions to groups that only make independent expenditures could not be limited. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_PACs#Super_PACs (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. ]
Discuss: how do you think certain contributions would affect the issues of the candidate’s campaign, and the candidate’s party ideology.
Discuss: how do you think certain contributions would affect the candidate when elected to office.
Fundraising for the 2008 presidential election was approximately $383 million for John McCain (R) and approximately $778 million for Barack Obama(D). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_for_the_2008_United_States_presidential_election (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
See spending for the 2012 presidential election:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_for_the_2012_United_States_presidential_election (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
See spending for the 2016 presidential election:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_in_the_United_States_presidential_election,_2016 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Super PACs are raising the amount of presidential candidates' campaign finances. For example, as of September 20, 2012 Super PACs such as Restore Our Future independent expenditures http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restore_Our_Future (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. contributed over 82 million dollars to candidates. [See recent record of PAC expenditures as of January 29, 2014: http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/indexpend.php?cmte=C00490045&cycle=2012 (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.]
How do you think “Super PACs,” such as Restore Our Future independent expenditures, affected the 2012 presidential fundraising and elections? How will “Super PACs” affect future presidential fundraising and elections (in 2016, 2020)?
Topic: Interest Groups Theory:
On the Module Week-5 course contents page, see PDF handout of outlined discussion on 'Interest Group Theories.’
See: Part II. ‘Theories of Interest Group Politics.’
THEORIES OF INTEREST GROUP POLITICS - A. Understanding the debate over whether honest lobbying creates problems requires an examination of three important theories:
1) Pluralist theory argues that interest group activity brings representation to all; groups compete and counterbalance one another.
2) Elite theory argues that a few groups (mostly the wealthy) have most of the power.
3) Hyperpluralist theory asserts that too many groups are getting too much of what they want, resulting in a government policy that is often contradictory and lacking in direction (and can cause policy gridlock).