• How much the 2000 elections cost: $3 billion.
• How much soft money was collected by national political parties in the 2000 elections: $500 million.1
• How much of that amount would be banned under the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill approved by the Senate this week: 100%.
• Portion soft money represents of overall campaign fundraising: ~1/6.
• Why Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) says he opposes a McCain-Feingold type campaign finance reform bill: it would give incumbents an advantage.
• How long DeLay has been an incumbent: 16 years.2
• Amount DeLay raised in his last campaign: $1.3 million.3
• Amount his opponent, Democrat Jo Ann Matranga, raised: $10,000.4
• Fundraising advantage DeLay had in his last race: 130:1.
• Average amount raised by House incumbents in the 2000 elections: $891,000.5
• Average amount raised by their challengers $360,600.6
• Number of Tom DeLay reform proposals to reduce the current advantage enjoyed by incumbents: 0.
• Increase in contested primaries in Maine under the new Clean Elections law, which provides public financing for qualifying candidates: 40 percent.7
• Proportion of Clean Elections candidates who beat privately funded opponents: 53%. 8
• Level of Tom DeLay support for public financing of campaigns: 0.

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1 Federal Elections Commission.
2 Project Vote Smart.
3 Center for Responsive Politics, www.crp.org.
4 ibid.
5 ibid.
6 ibid.
7 Money & Politics Implementation Project, a collaborative project of Northeast Action, Public Campaign, Democracy Works, Maine Citizen Leadership Fund, Vermont Public Interest Research Group, Mass Voters for Clean Elections, and the Arizona Clean Elections Institute.