Goodbye Soft Money, Hello Grassroots
Former Brennan Center staffer Laura MacCleery’s article for the Catholic U. Law Review covers the rise of “soft money”, or money raised outside the scope of a Federal election, and the BCRA (Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act) and how it relates to/impacted grassroots campaign finance movements, primarily during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Full title: “Goodbye Soft Money, Hello Grassroots: How Campaign Finance Restructured Campaigns and the Political World,” by former deputy director of the Brennan Center’s Campaign Finance Program, Laura MacCleery. This article originally appeared in the Summer 2009 issue of the Catholic University Law Review. It argues that the BCRA is a first step towards establishing better grassroots financial support for campaigns, but that further support in this area is needed.
There are four main sections to the article:
- A brief history of political party fundraising
- A call for reform of the soft-money system
- A new kind of campaign: Election Cycle 2008
- The RNC’s attempt to re-litigate McConnel
Download here [62 page pdf]