A brief history of the Presidential Election Campaign Fund:
1971-1974: Congress creates a public financing system for presidential elections as a way to reduce dependence on money from individual donors and groups. Primary candidates get a matching amount of public money based on their fundraising; party nominees get bigger, fixed sums and cannot raise extra money on their own.
1976: First test of the law. Fifteen candidates compete in the presidential primaries and get a total of $24.8 million in matching funds. Democrat Jimmy Carter and GOP President Ford each receive $21.8 million for the general election.
1980: In the primaries, 10 candidates share $31.3 million. The general election features three candidates — President Carter, Republican Ronald Reagan and John Anderson, the first third-party candidate to share in public money.
1996: Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., takes public funds during the primaries but the spending limits leave him without campaign cash by March. He has to wait until August for his general election share. Meanwhile, Democratic President Clinton sweeps though the primary season and trains his sights on the penniless Dole.
2000: Republican George W. Bush, aware of Dole's 1996 quandary, decides not to accept public financing in the primaries and raises $95 million.
2004: Bush, running unopposed, and Democrats Howard Dean and John Kerry bypass the public money system in the primaries. Helped by higher contribution limits, Bush raises $270 million and Kerry, the Democratic nominee, takes in $235 million.