FOKUS AMERIKA Büro Washington Dr. Almut Wieland-Karimi 1023 15 th Street NW,# 801 Washington, DC 20005 USA Tel.:+1 202 408 5444 Fax:+1 202 408 5537 fesdc@fesdc.org www.fesdc.org Nr. 6/ 2007 Financing the 2008 Presidential Elections Clyde Wilcox 1  American presidential elections are very expensive by international comparison due to three major facts: a) the long duration of campaigning, b) missing party discipline, and c) the decentralized nature of American campaigns.  During the primary elections, candidates raise and spend money to help win votes from their own partisans. As the parties remain neutral, the candidates have to raise money on their own. Most of the funding in the primaries comes from individual con­tributions.  During the general presidential elections, the candidates of the two parties compete against each other in raising funds. Despite being backed by their parties, the candi­dates wish to control their messages and remain largely independent from party structures. Different kinds of support groups engage in fundraising and campaigning by various measures. By the fall of 2007, it is already evident that the presidential elections will be the most expensive in history. During the first six months of 2007, Hillary Clinton raised ap­proximately$50 million for her primary elec­tion campaign – more than twice what her husband had raised in his successful 1992 campaign, with most of the serious fund­raising to come. This remarkable total left Clinton in second place in the Democratic money chase, behind Senator Barack Oba­Obama, who raised more than$350,000 per day for the first six months of 2007. American presidential elections are very expensive by international comparison. This is true for several reasons. First, candidates frequently campaign for a year or two for their party’s nomination. By January, 2007, many candidates were raising money and crossing the country making speeches and building organizations, even though the first