Category Archives: campaigns

Just How Democratic is California? Republican Party Chair Leaves Out His Party in Announcing Senate Bid

September 9, 2015, 7:45 amcampaignsRick Hasen

Former chair of Republican Party Duf Sundheim announces his bid without mentioning he’s a Republican or his chairmanship of the CA Republican party. The closest he comes in an emailed press release is this: In 2012, Sundheim reached across… Continue reading

“Conan O’Brien Tries to Give Lincoln Chafee a Lift in the Polls”

September 9, 2015, 7:42 amcampaignsRick Hasen

NYT: Lincoln Chafee, the former Rhode Island governor, has failed to garner a single supporter in the last four national polls, which have queried a total of 1,475 Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters. The latest poll came after Mr. Chafee got… Continue reading

“Hillary Clinton’s secret weapon in campaign finance reform: Shame”

September 9, 2015, 7:31 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

LAT: Hillary Rodham Clinton knows her plan to stop big businesses from secretly funneling tranches of cash into politics may not fly with the Supreme Court and Congress, so she has a backup plan: publicly shame the companies. Clinton… Continue reading

“Clinton’s campaign finance proposal & the long road to reform”

September 8, 2015, 3:43 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Tom Mann writes.

@JeffreyToobin, @Maddow, Dan Rather in Hillary Clinton Video Talking Citizens United

September 8, 2015, 9:03 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Watch. Talking of overturning Citizens United may be good policy, but it also appears to be good politics, especially as Hillary Clinton faces pressure from the left on the issue from Bernie Sanders and now Larry Lessig.

“Clinton proposes new caps on political donations”

September 8, 2015, 7:33 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

WaPo: Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton is proposing a federal program to match small political campaign donations as a way to dilute the influence of megadonors and unregulated outside money. Clinton plans to release details of the plan… Continue reading

@Lessig’s Running, Raised His Million

September 7, 2015, 9:23 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Tweet Politico 9 Things to Know About Lawrence Lessig And from last week, my ELB Podcast interview with Lessig, ELB Podcast Episode 3: Larry Lessig: Bold Campaign Reformer or Don Quixote?

“Presidential Fundraising: New CFI Table Arrays the Sources of Candidates’ Early Money”

September 7, 2015, 9:16 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Campaign Finance Institute: We know by now that the presidential campaigns raised early money from mega-donors at an unprecedented clip, with most of the money during the first half of 2015 going into legally independent Super PACs. The Campaign… Continue reading

“Talk in G.O.P. Turns to a Stop Donald Trump Campaign”

September 4, 2015, 5:35 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

NYT: But the mammoth big-money network assembled by Republicans in recent years is torn about how best to defuse the threat Mr. Trump holds for their party, and haunted by the worry that any concerted attack will backfire. In… Continue reading

“With flourish, Trump rejects independent bid if he loses GOP nomination”

September 3, 2015, 6:26 pmcampaignsRick Hasen

LAT: Election lawyers say the pledge is not legally binding because it does not promise the parties anything in return for their loyalty. “As a matter of contract law, it doesn’t look like an enforceable contract,” said UC Irvine… Continue reading

“Donald Trump signs pledge not to run as independent”

September 3, 2015, 12:40 pmcampaignsRick Hasen

But it’s likely unenforceable.

“Why Fund-Raising Is Important, Even if You Are Trump”

September 3, 2015, 7:43 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Smart Lynn Vavreck NYT Upshot column: Mr. Trump may continue to eschew money from lobbyists and special interests and condemn those candidates who take it, but a closer look at the F.E.C. fund-raising numbers reveals an interesting pattern that… Continue reading

“How Team Bush Divides in Order to Conquer”

September 3, 2015, 7:30 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Bloomberg: But “not coordinated” isn’t clearly defined, and candidates have taken advantage of that. This year almost every presidential candidate in the field has at least one supporting super-PAC that’s ostensibly acting independently of his or her campaign, though… Continue reading

“Why Lawrence Lessig Should Love Money in Politics”

September 3, 2015, 7:27 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

David Keating for the Daily Caller: That’s why the quick rush to cover Lessig is important to note. You see, passing even more complicated campaign finance laws isn’t actually about saving America from corruption. Lessig, the media, and the rest… Continue reading