More than two-thirds of the Democrats' cash went to a dozen presidential battlegrounds critical to any Clinton victory. The biggest beneficiaries were Florida, which has taken in close to $3.5 million, and Pennsylvania and Ohio, which have each received more than $2 million.
In each of those states, the funds from the national party have made a difference, erasing deficits in federal contributions against the respective Republican state parties.
The money followed a legal but circuitous route turbocharged by the 2014 ruling in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission[1], which struck down Watergate-era limits on the combined amount one person could donate to all federal candidates[2] and parties in an election cycle.
Like other candidates for federal office this year, Mrs. Clinton can accept only up to $5,400 from any one donor over the course of her campaign. But after the McCutcheon decision, Mrs. Clinton established an agreement last year with the Democratic Party under which she asked her wealth iest patrons to write checks in excess of $300,000, more than [3]double the old limit[4], to the Hillary Victory Fund< small>[5], an account made up of the national and state parties and the Clinton campaign.
That amount is a lump sum equal to the total contributions[6] each donor is allowed to give to her campaign and the Democratic National Committee[7], along with $10,000 to each of the 38 state party organizations now participating in the arrangements.
Because there are no limits on how much money party committees can transfer to one another, most of the state parties have cycled their share back to the Democratic National Committee. The party then moved the cash into a smaller number of battleground states to prepare for Election Day. The effect is a legal end-run around contribution limits, allowing wealthy donors to give far more than $5,400 to help Mrs. Clinton where she needs it the most.
Latest Election Polls 2016
[8]"If you're a party leader or a candidate who can attract big enough donors, it means contribution limits are for the little guy," said Ian Vandewalker[9], a counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, which favors tighter controls on political money. "The party leaders, the candidates who have a national name, significant amounts of their war chests are built from these big checks," he said.
The Democrats' unexpected advantage comes courtesy of a lawsuit filed in 2012 by the Republican National Committee and Shaun McCutcheon[10], an Alabama businessman.
While both parties have used joint fund-raising arrangements for years, the decision issued two years ago in the McCutcheon case made it easier to raise and concentrate even more money from the same small group of wealthy donors.
At the time, the Supreme Court[11]'s conservative majority rejected concerns that lifting the limit would make candidates more indebted to the biggest donors. During oral arguments, Justice < a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/samuel_a_alito_jr/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Samuel A. Alito Jr." style="color: inherit; text-decoration: none;" name="readabilityLink-12">Samuel A. Alito Jr.[12] dismissed the idea that party leaders or candidates in different states would cooperate by sending their contributions elsewhere as "wild hypotheticals."
Democrats also castigated the court, arguing that it had paved the way for the wealthiest donors to further dominate campaign giving.
"With the rate the Supreme Court is going, there will only be three or four people in the whole country that have to finance o ur entire political system," Mrs. Clinton said during an appearance in Oregon the week after the McCutcheon decision.
Mrs. Clinton was no doubt exaggerating for effect. Still, the actual numbers are striking: Just 250 donors have accounted for about $44 million in contributions to the Hillary Victory Fund during the last year.
Josh Schwerin, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, said that Mrs. Clinton continued to support new restrictions on campaign money, but that the only way to achieve them was to elect more Democrats who shared her views.
"Hillary Clinton[13] has fought for campaign finance reform her entire career and, as president, will make it a priority to restore the role of everyday voters in elections," Mr. Schwerin said, "but the stakes of this election are too high to unilaterally disarm."
By contrast, the money raised by Mr. Trump and the Republicans, while robust, has been driven chiefly by small checks from his grass-roots supporters.
And the Republicans have not been as shrewd at maximizing whatever money Mr. Trump's large-dollar fund-raisers have contributed. More of the Republican big-donor money is being directed into national party accounts that cannot be spent directly on the election.
And the committee for Trump Victory
Only one Republican state organization, the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, had received any cash through August, according to Federal Election Commission[15] records. The amount was $1,050, to reimburse the party for tables and ch airs.
In an interview, Mr. McCutcheon said he did not mind that his lawsuit was paying more dividends for Democrats this year.
"I think a lot of those Democrats were just publicly saying it was a bad idea, but a lot of them were on board," he said. "I don't care what party wins or loses as long as it's a free speech system."
Continue reading the main story[16]References
- ^ McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ donate to all federal candidates (www.fec.gov)
- ^ than (www.publicintegrity.org)
^ double the old limit (www.publicintegrity.org) - ^ Hillary Victory Fund (www.hillaryclinton.com)
- ^ a lump sum equal to the total contributions (sunlightfoundation.com)
- ^ More articles about Democratic National Committee (topics.nytimes.com)
- ^ Latest Election Polls 2016 (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ Ian Vandewalker (www.brennancenter.org)
- ^ Shaun McCutcheon (shaunmccutcheon.com)
- ^ More articles about the U.S. Supreme Court. (topics.nytimes.com)
- ^ More articles about Samuel A. Alito Jr. (topics.nytimes.com)
- ^ More articles about Hillary Clinton. (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ Trump Victory (www.opensecrets.org)
- ^ More articles about Federal Election Commission, U.S. (topi cs.nytimes.com)
- ^ Continue reading the main story (www.nytimes.com)
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