ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews a number of trends in political advertising that are influenced by campaign finance rules. Fund-raising efforts are guided by campaign finance rules, but candidates face one set of rules while parties must abide by another, slightly different set, and interest groups follow yet another set of rules. The rules are complex—and ever-changing—because of new regulations and court decisions. Federal Election Campaign Act and the revisions made to it throughout the 1970s dictate that candidates are expressly banned from accepting direct contributions from corporations and unions and may accept contributions from only three sources: individual citizens, party committees, and political action committees. The campaign finance reforms and judicial decisions of the 1970s put political parties at an immediate disadvantage in the electoral arena. Interest groups have always been a bigger concern than parties for advocates of campaign finance reform. The rules of campaign finance have many implications for the study of political advertising.
