First Amendment and Campaigns: More Campaign Speech Benefits Voters

January 1, 2018  •  By IFS Staff  •    •  

At the heart of the First Amendment is the assumption that Americans are best served by a full and free discussion of whom to elect. The American system of government sits atop the bedrock of the First Amendment. From the pamphleteering of the founding era to the Facebook ads of today, political campaigns have been premised upon free and open…

A Persuasive Campaign for Coercion

Default Article
October 11, 2006   •  By Steve Hoersting   •  ,

Jared DeMarinis, of the Maryland State Board of Elections, has referred Governor Bob Ehrlich's campaign to a state prosecutor because Ehrlich employed a common ...

Lamont, Lieberman, and the Distorting Effects of Campaign Finance Law on Political Competition

Default Article
August 9, 2006   •  By Brad Smith   •  , ,

Ned Lamont's primary victory over Joe Lieberman exposes the ways in which our campaign finance laws distort the political choices available to Americans and ...

Arizona’s “Clean Elections” Commission Moves into Licensing the Press

Default Article
July 12, 2006   •  By Brad Smith   •  , ,

The organized press has long served as a complaisant cheerleader for campaign finance restrictions, confident that the regulations they enthusiastically support will never come ...

John McCain: Clean Government is Preferred to First Amendment Rights

Default Article
May 1, 2006   •  By Steve Hoersting   •  ,

CCP's Co-Founder and Senior Advisor Brad Smith doubts in his diary at RedState.com whether Senator John ...

Comments on Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Coordinated Communications

January 13, 2006   •  By IFS staff   •  , ,

The coordination provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act are among the least understood and most far reaching of the Act.

When Do War Chests Deter?

January 1, 2005   •  By IFS staff   •  , ,

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

The Benefits of Campaign Spending

Default Article
September 4, 2003   •  By IFS staff   •  , ,

Critics of American politics often say that spending on electoral campaigns harms our democracy and charge that the money goes for cynical, negative, and ...

The Effect of War Chests on Challenger Entry in U.S. House Elections

October 1, 2001   •  By IFS staff   •  , ,

In this article, Jay Goodliffe challenges conventional wisdom on the effect of war chests in U.S. House elections. As many "reformers" suggest that war ...

The Distribution of Campaign Spending Benefits across Groups

March 1, 2001   •  By IFS staff   •  , ,

Scholarly attention to congressional campaign spending has focused primarily on the benefits candidates receive from that spending, from challenger deterrence to election victory to ...

Who’s Buying Campaign Finance ‘Reform’?

January 1, 2001   •  By IFS staff   •  , ,

The campaign finance reform ‘campaign’ is controlled and financed by liberal Democrats: wealthy soft money donors to the Democratic party and candidates, liberal foundations and Democratic ...

Load more