Category Archives: campaigns

“Representativeness and Motivations of the Contemporary Donorate: Results from Merged Survey and Administrative Records”

May 12, 2016, 8:19 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Seth Hill and Gregory Huber have written this article for Political Behavior. Here is the abstract: Only a small portion of Americans make campaign donations, yet because ambitious politicians need these resources, this group may be particularly important for shaping… Continue reading

“Trump’s candidacy sparking ‘a surge’ in citizenship, voter applications”

May 11, 2016, 9:28 pmcampaignsRick Hasen

WaPo: Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is spurring a record number of citizenship applications and increases in voter registration among Latinos upset by the candidate’s rhetoric and fearful of his plans to crack down on immigration. Activists, lawmakers and political… Continue reading

Trump Rules Out Accepting Public Financing for General Election Campaign

May 11, 2016, 7:13 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

No surprise.

“Super PAC coffers swell with more than $700 million”

May 11, 2016, 7:12 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

WaPo reports.

Forces That Put Justice Benjamin on W Va Supreme Court (Think Caperton) Turn Around and Oust Him

May 10, 2016, 8:28 pmcampaign finance, campaigns, judicial electionsRick Hasen

Read Pema Levy. Then see these results.

“How Congress members opened door to bigger checks for their parties”

May 10, 2016, 1:32 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

McClatchy: But hold on. If you’re a donor, don’t put away your checkbook just yet. The Democratic and Republican national committees each have separate Senate and House campaign committees to help elect members of Congress. Each has a general… Continue reading

“Donald Trump, in Switch, Turns to Republican Party for Fund-Raising Help”

May 10, 2016, 7:35 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

NYT: Donald J. Trump took steps to appropriate much of the Republican National Committee’s financial and political infrastructure for his presidential campaign on Monday, amid signs that he and the party would lag dangerously behind the Democrats in… Continue reading

“FEC Seeks to Derail Soft-Money Challenge”

May 9, 2016, 5:14 pmcampaign finance, campaigns, political parties, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Bloomberg BNA: The Federal Election Commission is seeking to derail a challenge to limits on “soft-money” contributions to political parties before the case is put on a fast track to the Supreme Court (Republican Party of La. v. Federal … Continue reading

“Trump aides huddle with RNC to plot big-money strategy”

May 9, 2016, 3:42 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Politico: Donald Trump’s campaign is hashing out the details of an agreement with Republican Party leaders that could allow the presumptive GOP presidential nominee to raise six-figure checks for his presidential campaign, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the… Continue reading

“Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News”

May 9, 2016, 7:21 amcampaignsRick Hasen

Gizmodo: Facebook workers routinely suppressed news stories of interest to conservative readers from the social network’s influential “trending” news section, according to a former journalist who worked on the project. This individual says that workers prevented stories about the… Continue reading

“The Supreme Court’s Next Big Fight Over Money in Politics: Will the justices gut the rest of McCain-Feingold — and make it easier for wealthy donors to influence elections?”

May 8, 2016, 8:02 pmcampaign finance, campaigns, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

I have written this piece for The Atlantic. It begins: At some point next year, the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to face a major First Amendment question: whether to overturn what remains of the 2002 McCain-Feingold Act. This measure… Continue reading

“Women’s Rising Influence in Politics, Tinted Green”

May 8, 2016, 7:58 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Nick Confessore: Women are bankrolling political campaigns this year more than ever, driven by their rising rank in the workplace, boosts in women’s wealth, and networks set up to gather their donations and bolster their influence. In an election… Continue reading

“Few stand in Trump’s way as he piles up the Four-Pinocchio whoppers”

May 8, 2016, 7:51 pmcampaignsRick Hasen

Glenn Kessler for WaPo: At the Fact Checker, we have often said we do not write fact checks to change the behavior of politicians. Fact checks are intended to inform voters and explain complicated issues. Still, most politicians will drop… Continue reading

“Atlanta Mayor’s Column Ripping Bernie Sanders Drafted by Lobbyist, Emails Show”

May 6, 2016, 7:26 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

The Intercept: A few days before the Georgia primary, influential Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed published a column on CNN.com praising Hillary Clinton and ripping her opponent, Bernie Sanders. Reed attacked Sanders as being out of step with Democrats on… Continue reading