ABSTRACT
From the nineteenth to the midtwentieth century, elections were party-centered, meaning that electoral campaigns were run by the party and for the party. Candidates in party-centered elections depended mainly upon the strength of their party to get votes on election day. Voters loyally supported the political parties, tending to cast votes for the same party each election. The conflict between freedom to spend and political equality in the private financing of campaigns began to surface near the end of the age of party-centered campaigns. As money became more important to the success of electoral campaigns, the conflict between political equality and the freedom to spend intensified. Political parties are not out of the picture in US elections. Parties no longer slate the candidates or run the campaign machinery, but they do provide some electoral services to candidates, and they do raise money and help candidates raise money.
