Cite as: 540 U. S. 93 (2003)
Syllabus
and advise how to raise and spend soft money, so long as the national officers do not personally spend, receive, direct, or solicit soft money. Pp. 159-161. (c) On its face, new FECA § 323(b)—which prohibits state and local party committees from using soft money for activities affecting federal elections, 2 U. S. C. § 441i(b)—is closely drawn to match the important governmental interest of preventing corruption and its appearance. Pp. 161-173. (1) Recognizing that the close ties between federal candidates and state party committees would soon render § 323(a)'s anticorruption measures ineffective if state and local committees remained available as a conduit for soft-money donations, Congress designed § 323(b) to prevent donors from contributing nonfederal funds to such committees to help finance "Federal election activity," which is defined to encompass (1) voter registration activity during the 120 days before a federal election; (2) voter identification, GOTV, and generic campaign activity "conducted in connection with an election in which a [federal] candidate . . . appears on the ballot"; (3) any "public communication" that "refers to a clearly identified [federal] candidate" and "promotes," "supports," "attacks," or "opposes" such a candidate; and (4) the services of a state committee employee who dedicates more than 25% of his or her compensated time to "activities in connection with a Federal election," 2 U. S. C. §§ 431(20)(A)(i)-(iv). All activities that fall within this definition must be funded with hard money. § 441i(b)(1). The Levin Amendment carves out an exception to this general rule, allowing state and local party committees to pay for certain federal election activities—namely, activities falling within categories (1) and (2) above that either do not refer to "a clearly identified candidate for Federal office," or, if they involve broadcast communications, refer "solely to a clearly identified candidate for State or local office," §§ 441i(b)(2)(B)(i)-(ii)— with an allocated ratio of hard money and so-called "Levin funds." Levin funds are subject only to state regulation, but for two additional restrictions. First, no contributor can donate more than $10,000 per year to a single committee's Levin account. § 441i(b)(2)(B)(iii). Second, both Levin funds and the allocated portion of hard money to pay for such activities must be raised by the state or local committee that spends them, though the committee can team up with other national, state, or local committees to solicit the hard-money portion. §§ 441i(b)(2)(B)(iv), 441i(b)(2)(C). Pp. 161-164. (2) In addressing soft-money contributions to state committees, Congress both drew a conclusion and made a prediction. It concluded from the record that soft money's corrupting influence insinuates itself into the political process not only through national party committees,
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