The election is over. What happens to all that campaign cash?
An estimated 5.8 billion was spent on the 2012 election. Where can candidates spend their leftover money? What is off limits?
President Barack Obama, with his daughter Malia, waves toward the crowd at his election night party last week in Chicago. Now the 2012 campaign season is over, candidates can put extra money aside for future campaigns.
Charles Rex Arbogast/AP/File
The election is over. For now, no more attack ads, no more barrage of emails begging for money.
But speaking of cash, what about the money raked in by campaigns that was left unspent?
It鈥檚 a little too early to call the grand total of all 2012 election spending, but the听Center for Responsive Politics听estimates it will be above $5.8 billion, 7 percent higher than 2008. 鈥淏ut听outside spending,鈥� the group says, 鈥渋s a wild card that makes predictions tricky.鈥�
Outside spending includes money from corporations, unions, individuals, and other political groups. Investigative journalism site听ProPublica鈥檚 PAC Track听is trying to do the math, and right now says听prominent political action committees spent a total of $581 million. That includes 鈥淪uper PACs,鈥� which because of a听2010 Supreme Court ruling, opened the door for unlimited fundraising and spending.
As for the campaigns,听The New York Times听breaks it down pretty well, although they pair up the campaigns and their political parties鈥� spending with their biggest Super PAC supporters. (Super PACs can鈥檛 legally coordinate with the campaigns 鈥� you won鈥檛 hear Obama or Romney say 鈥淚 approve this message鈥� at the end, but the money is still supporting them.) That means there鈥檚 some overlap with the ProPublica numbers, but it gives us a ballpark idea: all told, somewhere above $2 billion between the two major parties. In 2008,听Politico听said it was unprecedented for that number to be more than $1 billion.
The NYT tallies include data through mid-October and may not match what鈥檚 finally reported to the Federal Election Commission, but here鈥檚 what we know so far鈥�
| 听 | Obama | Romney |
|---|---|---|
| Raised | $934.0m | $881.8m |
| Spent | $852.9m | $752.3m |
| Remainder | $134.7m | $193.3m |
So what happens to that monster chunk of change remaining? We asked听听an independent agency that regulates campaign finance.
How leftover money can be spent
Here鈥檚 what an FEC spokesperson told us:
"Surplus funds may be used in connection with a future election. Funds may be transferred between authorized committees of the same candidate (for example, from a previous campaign committee to a current campaign committee) without limit as long as the committee making the transfer has no 鈥渘et debts outstanding.鈥� CFR 110.3(c) and 116.2(c)(2). Alternatively, a candidate may redesignate a former campaign committee as the principal campaign committee of his or her current campaign and use the excess funds of the previous campaign in the current campaign.
Pages 51-57 of the FEC鈥檚 Campaign Guide for Congressional Candidates and Committees (http://www.fec.gov/pdf/candgui.pdf) discuss the permissible, personal and prohibited uses of campaign funds. Pages 117-121 discuss winding down activity."
This explains a few things. One, debts have to be paid first 鈥� and there isn鈥檛 always a surplus of funds to cover them.听Hillary Clinton is still paying off听her $25 million 2008 presidential campaign debt. (But she鈥檚听down to just $73,000听as of mid-October.) According to Politico, so are听Rudy Giuliani听and many 2012 Republican contenders: Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain. (Ron Paul, however, has a $2 million surplus.) Want to look up other candidates鈥� financial situations? Go crazy at the听FEC disclosure page.
Second, the FEC鈥檚 statement tells us money can be used for future campaigns. President Obama can鈥檛 win a third term 鈥� but could he help Hillary Clinton pay off her campaign debt?
Chapter 8 of the听FEC campaign guide, Expenditures and Other Uses of Campaign Funds, says money can be donated to charities and state and local candidates. It also allows 鈥渦nlimited transfers to any national, state or local party committee.鈥� But for national candidates, there鈥檚 a limit of $2,000. So that鈥檚 out.
Could those funds be passed on to Obama鈥檚 VP, Joe Biden? (On Election Day,听he joked听he might run for president again.) This is possible, but not directly 鈥� the money would have to go to the Democratic National Committee, which could spend it to support Biden.
The FEC guide also tells us the money could be refunded to donors, spent on gifts (or 鈥渄onations of nominal value鈥�) to non-family members, moving expenses after leaving office, home security for officeholders, and work-related 鈥渢ravel expenses for a federal officeholder and his or her accompanying spouse and children,鈥� although a听2007 law听puts some restrictions on that. (Interestingly, campaign cash can also be used听prior听to the election to pay candidates a salary 鈥� but not to incumbents, and it鈥檚 capped at the lesser of what they made last year or what the office they鈥檙e seeking pays.)
Forbidden uses of campaign cash
The big no-no, of course, is personal use of political contributions. Campaign cash can鈥檛 be spent on expenses that would exist even if the (former) candidate hadn鈥檛 run for office. That鈥檚 a broad definition, but the guide spells out some specific examples including college tuition, groceries, funeral expenses, clothes (excluding stuff like campaign T-shirts),听mortgage听or rent payments, leisure and entertainment, and gym and country club dues.
Just a couple of decades ago, former candidates听could听spend money on this stuff.听Factcheck.org听says, 鈥淩etiring federal lawmakers used to be able to pocket extra cash and use it for cars, vacations, clothes, pet grooming, whatever 鈥� but that changed in 1989 with the passage of the听Ethics Reform Act.鈥�
Brandon Ballenger is a writer for听, a consumer/personal finance TV news feature that airs in about 80 cities as well as around the Web. This column first appeared in Money Talks News.