Within chapter eleven of Congressional Elections, Paul Herrnson sets forth the topic of campaign reform. Within the chapter he lays out two main points, the first focusing on the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, and secondly what else is needed to be done which was not covered in the act in 2002.
The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) [Act's Link] was signed into power by former president Bush, as Herrnson points out “The act’s major provisions banned party soft money, increased contributions limits, and restricted issue advocacy advertising.” (pg.295) Though most of the acts power was not felt until the next election in 2004 one of the first seen provisions was the ‘Stand by your ad’ provision, which made all campaign advertisements includ a verbal statement to the effect of "I'm [insert candidate's name] and I approve this message." [News Article]
Herrnson says, “Although the reform community hailed the enactment of the BCRA as a major victory, most members of that community consider it a short step on a long road to a model election system.” (pg.303) Herrnson then goes on and points out that there are many other previsions that need to be considered like, “term limits, the creation of multimember House districts, improved disclosure, free or subsidized campaign communications, tax credits for individual contributors, and revamping state redistricting processes…” (pg.303)
BCRA has done a lot, but it is also not hard to see that there is still much more that needs to be done in order to reach the ‘perfect system’ if there is such a thing.
