Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential election victory signaled the beginning of an era of divided national government. Neither party had the ability, or the will, to break the political stalemate. During the 1970s, factions increased their respective influence in both the Democratic and Republican parties. Single-issue interest groups saw their membership rapidly expand as more and more Americans became disillusioned with the two major parties. The environmental, women's, and gay rights movements joined the civil rights movement as major political forces pushing hard from the left side of the political spectrum. At the same time, conservative groups organized grassroots campaigns against tax increases. The pro-life movement, after the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade,1 began a grassroots campaign to overturn the abortion rights opinion. Religious conservatives began to explore the possibility of forging their ranks into a national political force of millions.
Progressive political forces blamed special interests for blocking the popular will of the American public. Frustration with politics as usual, in 1970, led to the establishment of Common Cause, an organization formed to free the political process from addiction to special-interest money. Common Cause argued that campaign finance reform, tougher ethics rules and restrictions on lobbying of public officials would help bring special-interest politics under control.
Of particular concern to Common Cause and to other public-interest groups was the issue of federal regulation. Critics of the regulatory process argued that federal and state regulators no longer exercised independent