ay candidates a salary (Federal Election Commission, 2003).
At the very heart of this important legislation is the
recognition on the part of many officials that the public is not well served by the ways in which political candidates once received financing (Mann, 2003). Particularly important is the issue of ôsoft moneyö which is money that can only be scrutinized by state restrictions rather than the federal government. National political parties, elected officials, and candidates have used soft money to add to their ôwar chestsö and buy media advertising and other important campaign resources (This campaign reformà, 2002).
When President Bush signed this Act into law, he said that though it was far from perfect, it would ultimately improve the financing system for federal campaigns (This campaign reformà, 2002). The amount of
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