Chuck Darwin<p>The modern era of campaign finance began with <a href="https://c.im/tags/George" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>George</span></a> W. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Bush" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Bush</span></a>’s 2000 Presidential campaign, </p><p>which professionalized the idea of the campaign “<a href="https://c.im/tags/bundler" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>bundler</span></a>” <br>and created, in effect, a national club for wealthy Republicans who backed the G.O.P.’s Presidential effort. </p><p>Individual contributions to federal candidates were limited to a few thousand dollars in so-called <a href="https://c.im/tags/hard" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>hard</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/money" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>money</span></a>, <br>but wealthy supporters could tap their networks to bring in hundreds of thousands more. </p><p>The Bush campaign formalized this approach, <br>calling its top fund-raisers, <br>those who raised more than $100,000, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Pioneers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Pioneers</span></a>; </p><p>In 2004, a new category, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Rangers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Rangers</span></a>, was added for those who collected more than $200,000. </p><p>“We made it fun,” Jack Oliver, Bush’s national finance director, recalled. </p><p>“We built a community.”</p><p>During the 2008 campaign, Bush’s successor, Barack Obama, harnessed his hope-and-change platform to the power of the Internet, <br>raising an unprecedented number of gifts online from small-dollar donors. </p><p>The increase in donations<br>—in addition to both parties actively recruiting big-dollar bundlers<br>—made it the first Presidential election in history in which the campaigns spent more than $1 billion. </p><p>🔥Two years later, the Supreme Court’s <a href="https://c.im/tags/Citizens" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Citizens</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/United" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>United</span></a> decision ruled that federal law could not prevent corporations from spending unlimited sums to elect candidates, <br>💥a decision that effectively ended restrictions on campaign fund-raising.</p><p>The arms race of political spending that ensued has not only increased the influence of money in politics<br>—it’s changed the nature of national elections. </p><p>“What’s happened is that money has moved from the political parties<br>—which were a centering force in American politics for two hundred years, <br>because they had to stay competitive<br>—out to super pacs on the right and the left,” <br>Tom Davis, a former Republican House member from Virginia, who once ran the Party’s congressional-campaign committee, told me. </p><p>“That has only further polarized our politics.”</p><p>Earlier in this election cycle, the Federal Election Commission, <br>already a largely toothless agency, <br>undid some of the few remaining restrictions on coördination between candidates and super pacs. </p><p>Many large contributions are no longer disclosed at all, <br>with huge sums flowing through so-called <a href="https://c.im/tags/darkmoney" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>darkmoney</span></a> funds that support candidates or causes without revealing their donors</p><p>The Web site "OpenSecrets" found about $660 million in such spending in 2020. </p><p>Far more dark money is expected in this year’s election. </p><p>One veteran political operative told me that, <br>even as the billion-dollar campaign remains a recent phenomenon, <br>🆘 the country could soon see its first billion-dollar contribution. </p><p>“The amount of money sloshing around Washington now is beyond any sense of reality,” <br>Fred Wertheimer, a public-interest lawyer who spent his career advocating for enhanced campaign-finance laws, said. </p><p>“It’s like a sandbox for billionaires, and they treat it like a sandbox, and they go in and play.”</p>