Following Powell’s Lead and Expanding the Agenda

Abstract

These comments emphasize the contributions of Lynda Powell’s work on state-level campaign finance. That work is theoretically rich and analytically rigorous, and suggests that the context of contributing behaviors is a key variable often ignored. Logical extensions of her study suggest the need for (1) extensive, comparative, data collection, (2) additional topics of inquiry, and (3) the use of complementary approaches to better understand the role of campaign contributions in state-level politics.