A new horizon for campaign finance reform

A generation has passed since the federal government implemented a campaign finance reform initiative. In that time, the amount of money needed to be a competitive candidate for any elected office has skyrocketed, and the man euvers employed to assemble these funds have become, accordingly more sophi sticated. The authors survey the history of campaign finance reform efforts , including the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 and the Buckley v. Va leo precedent, and examine recent judicial, legislative, and political deve lopments, including state-level legislative efforts, the Supreme Court's ho lding in Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC, and early events in the 2 000 presidential campaign. They argue that changed political circumstances and improved economic conditions have made the time ripe for new, comprehen sive campaign finance legislation, a,ld they offer an outline for such legi slation.