Soft money is the widely used term for unlimited and unregulated contributions to national political parties that were legal in the United States before passage of the law in 2002.

CNN: Supreme Court upholds 'soft money' ban

Civic movements, trade unions, and political parties arose to counterbalance them, but in the United States, these were never able even to approach the power that corporations wielded.

NPR: Author Kinzer Charts 'Century of Regime Change'

In the United States, political parties are diverse coalitions united by one thing: the desire to get the party's candidates elected.

CNN: White House race drama continues despite tight script