Is That a Bundle in Your Pocket, Or . . .?

Abstract

As the 2008 Presidential campaign proceeds, calls for reform of bundling disclosure continue. Bundling permits individual funders to attract more attention from candidates by producing more funds than the contribution limit of $2,300 per election would permit. Advocates of greater regulation see bundling as an end-run around contribution limits and disclosure requirements of federal campaign finance law. Greater regulation of bundling could be the next step in the incremental but everlasting pursuit of political reform. Critics of bundling both inside and outside the Federal Election Commission (FEC) have called for additional regulations, especially in the disclosure of bundling. This essay looks at what bundling is and is not, what the law requires now, and why more regulation, even disclosure, may not be such a smart idea.