This paper analyzes the distributive strategies of presidents in federal countries under different contexts of fiscal centralization and party system nationalization by studying the allocation of discretionary fiscal transfers to the Argentine provinces and comparing two periods in which presidents from the same political party (Peronist) operated under different contexts: one of fiscal decentralization and party system nationalization during Carlos Menem’s presidencies; and another of fiscal centralization and party system denationalization during the presidencies of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. The analysis shows that in both cases the distribution followed strategic considerations even when this means, in the first case, to reward the over represented provinces and, in the second, the copartisan ones.