Academic Research

Proponents of measures to make independent section 527 organizations into “political committees” under the Federal Election Campaign Act, subjecting the organizations to federal campaign limits and ...

Electoral competition is thought to be the cornerstone of democratic rule, yet many policymakers, scholars, and concerned citizens perceive the existence of a competitiveness crisis in ...

Before the passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), television advertising was the main way candidates for office communicated with voters. Before the passage of ...

This paper examines evidence of sampling or statistical bias in newspaper reporting on campaign finance. We compile all stories from the five largest circulation newspapers ...

I n November 2004, in addition to electing a president and other representatives, voters nationwide acted as legislators themselves, weighing in on 162 statewide ballot propositions. Voters ...

o there you have it. Clean election laws (which provide full public funding to candidates who agree to forego private contributions altogether and abide by ...

This paper concludes that the Scarcity Rationale for regulating traditional broadcasting is no longer valid. The Scarcity Rationale is based on fundamental misunderstandings of physics and ...

Modern politicians and activists face a sea of complex and contradictory campaign finance regulations. Every step is governed by limits, prohibitions, reporting requirements -- all run ...

Do war chests deter challengers? And if so, under what circumstances do they deter? An anecdote reveals one circumstance when war chests may deter.

Conventional wisdom states that incumbents possess resources that prevent quality candidates from challenging them. This is a potential problem because quality challengers are more likely to ...