ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the campaign activity of actors who are outside the campaign organizations of the presidential nominees. Typically, these entities are the party committees and various interest groups, non-profit organizations, PACs, and Super PACs. The chapter describes the efforts of non-candidate actors in the general election. It highlights the activity of the national parties, interest groups, and Super PACs on either side. The chapter considers the actions of Russia as an unaligned non-candidate actor that may well have attempted to influence the outcome of the race. It examines generalizability of the conclusions reached after examining the activity of non-candidate actors in this election. Although officially neutral during the nomination phase of the election, revelations in the summer of 2016 suggested that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) may have had a thumb on the scale for Hillary Clinton. Furthermore, Clinton's message was reinforced by, for the most part, just one outside voice—Priorities USA.
