andidates exercise some control. Originally set at $10,000 for all national party organizations and an additional $10,000 for state party committees, the limits are adjusted for inflation and reached $30,910 for each during the 1996 House elections. Party orgzanizations contributed roughly $4.2 million in direct contributions and $15.0 million in coordinated expenditures to House candidates in 1996. These contributions and coordinated expenditures, which are commonly referred to as "hard money," exclude "soft money" expenditures on voter mobilization efforts, generic television and radio advertisements, and other campaign activities intended to help federal and nonfederal candidates for office. Party hard money comprises approximately 6 percent of all of the resources assembled by a typical general election candidate for the House. More importantly, this money accounts for roughly 10 percent of the resources raised by House challengers and 7 percent of the money raised by House candidates whose races were decided by margins of 20 percent or less. National party organizations can contribute a total of $17,500 to each general election candidate for the Senate, and state party committees can contribute an additional $5,000. Party coordinated expenditure limits in Senate elections are determined by state population and adjusted for inflation. During the 1996 elections, the coordinated expenditure limits for national party organizations ranged from $61,820 in the smallest states to $823,690 in Texas. If an election had been held in 1996 in California--the nation's most populous state--the coordinated expenditure limit would have been set at $1,409,249. The coordinted expenditure limit for state parties is the equivalent of the national party limit, doubling the amount that parties can spend in coordinated expenditures. Political party committees contributed roughly $1.7 million to Senate candidates and spent almost $20.1 million in coor...
