jan 1, 1966 - 1966 Public Election Financing

Description:

The Presidential Election Campaign Fund Act created limited public-financing of presidential elections, both in the primary and in the general. It continues today.

In the primary, the federal government will match up to $250 of each individual donors contributions to an eligible candidate, so long as the candidate limits their total spending to a certain amount, currently $48 million.

Similarly, in the general, the nominee of each of the major party's can claim around $100 million in federal funding towards their campaign (it changes each cycle due to inflation), but, if they take it, they are forbidden from raising or spending any more than this amount. Essentially, they must refuse private donations.

Of course nowdays, in an era in which billions of dollars are spent by each candidate, it now makes little sense to accept public money and few ever do. Every presidential candidate from 1976 to 2004, had used public funding. Starting with Obama in 2008, whose campaign was entirely privately financed, this came to an end.

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