How have the new McCain-Feingold rules limiting campaign donations affected the game?
McCain-Feingold has liberated independent groups to do what they thought they could do better than the party, which is do grassroots, registration, and mobilization…. In the past, if you had [unlimited] soft money and you were [a big donor like] Haim Saban or Steve Bing, you gave it to Bill Clinton and got a night in the Lincoln Bedroom or a flight on Air Force One. But since they’ve limited soft money…you can’t do that anymore. If you’re someone like George Soros, who is a businessman, you want to have a high-performing organization. You’re almost like a venture capitalist trying to figure out where to invest your money. [The new system] gives donors the advantage of figuring out how to get credit and how to get effectiveness at the same time. When the parties were in charge, all you could do was get credit, because the parties determined effectiveness. It really is like a market where people compete to convince George Soros or Haim Saban or Steve Bing or unions or whomever that y
