ABSTRACT
The soft money finances of Democratic and Republican party organizations received considerable attention in 1992 due to the highly visible competition for dollars between the major parties on behalf of their presidential nominees. This attention was also a function of new FEe regulations that required detailed reporting of soft money contributions and expenditures for the first time since 1979, the year this form of funding was incorporated into the federal campaign finance system. As noted in chapter 5, soft money refers to funds that are raised from sources outside the restraints of federal law but spent on activities intended to affect federal election outcomes. By contrast, hard money is raised, spent, and publicly disclosed under terms mandated by federal laws and regulations.
