Money!

Federal legal limitations of funding:

Campaign money can come from a candidate’s own pocket, political parties, individuals, or interest groups.

Reforms have been put into place to attempt to lessen campaign money obtained unfairly or corruptly.

These reforms include: imposing limits on giving, receiving, and spending money, and requiring public disclosure of sources and uses of money.

The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA): passed by Congress in 1971 to limit amounts that candidates could spend on advertising, required disclosure of sources and spending of campaign money, and required PACs to register with the government and report all major contributions.

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA): passed in 2002, banned soft money (unlimited money raised by political parties for “party building purposes”) and limited issue ads.


John Kerry's money:

Raised: $15,825,972
Spent: $9,377,672
Cash on Hand: $2,957,582
[just as a comparison, George W Bush raised $367,228,801 (over 23 times as much as Kerry), spent $345,259,155 (almost 37 times as much), and had $19,291,231 on hand.]

Where it came from:

PAC contributions $17,200
Individual contributions $11,469,628 (72%)
Candidate self-financing $0 (0%)
Other $4,339,144 (27%)

An article by USA today, written in 2003, said “Democratic hopeful John Kerry has loaned his campaign $850,000 and will mortgage his Boston home to come up with more campaign cash, marking the first time a candidate has tapped his personal fortune in the 2004 presidential race.

Top Contributors:

University of California: $632,225
Harvard University: $387,609
Goldman Sachs: $318,250
Microsoft Corp: $300,847
Time Warner: $293,275 (and $1,000 through the 527 group)
Citigroup Inc: $292,931