Individual donors play a serious position in financing congressional elections, accounting for greater than half all cash raised in condo campaigns. yet major donors (defined the following as these contributing greater than $200) are the least understood members within the method. Defenders assert that contributing cash to campaigns is a part of a broader trend of civic involvement and is unfastened speech that offers a voice to numerous pursuits. Detractors argue that those contributions are undemocratic, allowing prosperous electorate to crush the voices of the various and to advertise slim company and coverage pursuits. those divergent exams have been raised in reference to the Bipartisan crusade Finance Reform Act of 2002 and proceed to symbolize the controversy over crusade finance reform.

So who particularly contributes and why? How a lot and to what number applicants? What are the concepts utilized by political campaigns to elicit contributions and the way do the perspectives of important donors influence the campaign-finance method? What do donors take into consideration campaign-finance reform? This booklet investigates those important questions, describing the impact of congressional financiers in American politics.