[Northampton-GP] FW: Special CauseNet Update: Soft Money's Last Grasp

[Tim Carpenter]

> NATIONAL PARTIES RAISE RECORD $470.6 MILLION IN SOFT MONEY
> DURING THE 2001-2002 ELECTION CYCLE BEFORE NEW LAW TAKES EFFECT;
> Parties Raised $70.5 Million In The Twenty Days Preceding The Election
> 
> 	Because of a final flurry of fundraising before the Bipartisan Campaign
Finance Reform Act (BCRA) took effect on Nov. 6, 2002, the Democratic and
Republican parties raised a record-breaking $470.6 million in soft money
during the 2001-2002 election cycle.  The Republicans raised $250.3
million, outpacing the Democrats, who raised $220.3 million. Soft money
means the contributions made outside the limits and prohibitions of federal
law, including unlimited donations from corporations, labor unions and
wealthy individuals.
> 
> Soft money fundraising in 2001-2002 broke the previous record of $463.1
million in the 1999-2000 election cycle.  It also broke the pattern of soft
money totals dropping during mid-term elections.  For the first time since
the 1993-1994 election cycle, soft money raised during a non-presidential
election cycle exceeded the soft money raised during the presidential cycle
immediately before it.
> 
> This was true despite the fact that last year the national parties had
almost two fewer months to raise money.  Soft money fundraisers during
previous election cycles could accept contributions through the end of the
year.  In 2002, as a result of the BCRA, the deadline for accepting soft
money donations to the national political parties was Nov. 5, the day
before the BCRA took effect.  In the last 20 days before that deadline,
national party committees raised $70.5 million in soft money -- an average
of $3.5 million a day.
> 
> CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DRAMATICALLY INCREASE FUNDRAISING
> Reflecting the fierce struggle over control of the House and Senate, the
Congressional committees for each party experienced dramatic growth in soft
money fundraising, when compared to the two previous election cycles. The
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) more than tripled what
it raised in 1998, and slightly increased its totals over 2000, bringing in
$53.7 million.  The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) also
more than tripled its 1998 soft money totals, raising $60.7 million, more
than three times what it raised in 1998 and more than 33 percent above its
2000 totals of $45.7 million.
>   
> The $85.9 million raised by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
(DSCC) represented a 71 percent increase, compared to the $50.3 million
raised in 2000, and a 367 percent jump compared to DSCC totals in 1998.
> 
> Likewise, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) raised
$54.1 million in 2002, 56 percent more than it raised in 2000 and more than
double its total in 1998.  The Republican National Committee (RNC) took in
$112.1 million.  That amount was more than double what the RNC raised in
the comparable mid-term election year of 1998, but 25 percent less than the
RNC raised in 2000.  However, due to the success of Republican
congressional fundraising, total soft money donations to all of the
Republican national party committees were up by $7.4 million, compared to
2000.	
> 
> The Democratic National Committee (DNC) raised $79.8 million – a 31
percent decline when compared to 2000.  Overall, however, Democrats raised
about $1 million more than they did in the 2000 election cycle.
> 
> SOFT MONEY AND METHODOLOGY
> 	Under current law, corporations and labor unions are prohibited from
making contributions in connection with a federal election, while
individuals and political action committees (PACs) are subject to federal
limits.  Hard money means contributions that are legal under federal law
for federal elections.  Soft money means contributions made outside the
limits and prohibitions of federal law, including large individual or PAC
contributions and direct corporate or union contributions.
> 	
> The Common Cause study is based on national political party committee
reports of their non-federal, or soft money, accounts from January 1, 2001
through the 2002 Post General Election reports filed with the Federal
Election Commission (FEC).  Totals do not include transfers between party
committees, bank loans or interest, offsets to operating expenditures, or
other business-related receipts.
> 
>