Campaign finance in the United States
Independent expenditure

Contributions made directly to a specific candidate are called hard money and those made to parties and committees "for party building in general rather than for specific candidates" are called soft money or "independent spending". Following a couple of 2010 court decisions (Citizens United v. FEC and SpeechNOW.org v. FEC, see below), soft money political spending was exempt from federal limits, creating what some have called "a major loophole" in federal campaign financing and spending law. There are no limits on soft money and some examples are donations for stickers, posters, and television and radio spots supporting a particular party platform or idea but not a concrete candidate. Soft money contributions may be spent on registering and mobilizing voters, just not on expressed advocacy for a particular candidate.
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