Campaign finance refers to all funds raised in order to promote candidates, political parties, or policies in elections, referendums, initiatives, party activities, and party organizations. The funds could also detract from the opponents of the above. Campaign funds is the subject heading under which all books dealing with money in politics are catalogued by the Library of Congress. Other nations use other terms for the subject and offer a broader perspective. Cross-national comparisons prefer the more comprehensive "political finance", researchers in continental Europe use "party finance". All of them deal with "the costs of democracy", a term coined by G. Alexander Heard for his famous analysis of campaign finance in the U.S. Political campaigns have many expenditures, such as the cost of travel of candidates and staff, political consulting, and/or the direct costs of communicating with voters. The types and purposes of campaign spending depends on the region. For instance, in the United Kingdom, television advertising is provided to campaigning parties for free and limited by law, while in the United States, it is one of the biggest expenses in the campaign budget, especially for statewide and national campaigns. In the U.S. the campaign, political action committee (PAC), and super PAC are adequate terms to identify the units that raise and spend money for political purposes. In some countries (including the European countries, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Israel) the political party (comprising its headquarters, branches and chapters) is a useful concept to identify and aggregate the multitude of entities that raise and spend political funds. Parties run national headquarters, constituency associations, regional branches and local chapters as well as offices in the field. Each of these units collects revenue and incurs expenses that are used to fund political competition. When James K. Pollock and Louise Overacker began to analyze the role of money in politics, they started in the U.S., looking at the money that was spent in order to influence the outcome of federal elections. Their take-off point has dominated perception of the subject by U.S. citizens, media people and scholars ever since. Although the political science literature indicates that most contributors give to support parties or candidates with whom they are already in agreement, there is wide public perception that donors expect illegitimate government favors in return (such as specific legislation being enacted or defeated), so some have come to equate campaign finance with political corruption and bribery. These views have led some governments to reform fundraising sources and techniques in the hope of eliminating perceived undue influence being given to monied interests. Another tactic is for the government, rather than private individuals and organizations, to provide funding for campaigns. Democratic countries have differing regulations on what types of donations to political parties and campaigns are acceptable. The causes and effects of campaign finance rules are studied in political science, economics, and public policy, among other disciplines.

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