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Because the new law increased the value of large contributions, while being silent about the public matching fund formula that is supposed to increase worth of small ones, the general expectation was that BCRA, through a back door, had affected the presidential system substantially. Since George W. Bush had rejected public financing for the 2000 primariesraising a record number of $1,000 contributions in the process-it was widely predicted that Bush in 2004 would reject public funding again and persuade his former $1,000 donors to increase their contributions (Wilcox et al. 2003). This in turn would put severe strains on any Democrat who stayed in the system. The general expectation therefore was that one or more Democrats would also be likely to opt out of the system (Campaign Finance Institute Task Force on Financing Presidential Nominations 2003). As it happened, Bush, John Kerry, and Howard Dean all did opt out of public funding, with Bush and Kerry eventually raising and spending more than five times as much as they would have been allowed to spend had they accepted matching funds. However, Bush's money did not come from simply the same old donors. Most of his, and Kerry's, donors were new. The major policy question about presidential finance to emerge from 2004 was whether the public matching fund system still served a useful purpose. With

This article discusses political contribution tax credits, a campaign finance reform that seeks to encourage participation. Several states provide citizens with tax credits for part or all of their contributions to state or local candidates. Although a few studies have tried to estimate the budgetary impact of such programs, none has analyzed the effects of these tax credits on the propensity of citizens to contribute. We discuss the results of two surveys in one state with tax credits, Ohioone survey each of the general public and of campaign contributors. Our results indicate that if citizens are made aware of the tax credits, they have the potential to attract donors who are more similar to the general public than the current pool of campaign contributors. Tax credits have the greatest effect on small contributors, on younger adults, and on less partisan individuals.