Chapter 8: Political Parties, Candidates, and Campaigns

candidate-centered campaigns

election campaigns and other political processes in which candidates, not political parties, have most of the initiative and influence

gender gap

the tendency of women and men to differ in their political attitudes and voting preferences

grassroots party

a political party organized at the level of the voters and dependent on their support for its strength

hard money

campaign funds given directly to candidates to spend as they choose

median voter theorem

the theory that parties in a two-party system can maximize their vote by locating themselves at the position of the median voter—the voter whose preferences are exactly in the middle

money chase

the fact that U.S. campaigns are very expensive and candidates must spend a great amount of time raising funds in order to compete successfully

multiparty system

a system in which three or more political parties have the capacity to gain control of government, separately or in coalition

nomination

the selection of a particular individual to run as a political party’s candidate (its “nominee”) in the general election

packaging

in modern campaigning, the process of recasting a candidate’s record into an appealing image

party-centered campaigns

election campaigns and other political processes in which political parties, not individual candidates, hold most of the initiative and influence

party coalition

the groups and interests that support a political party

party competition

a process in which conflict over society’s goals is transformed by political parties into electoral competition in which the winner gains the power to govern

party organizations

the party organizational units at national, state, and local levels; their influence has decreased over time because of many factors

party realignments

elections or sets of elections in which the electorate responds strongly to an extraordinarily powerful issue that has disrupted the established political order

a realignment has a lasting impact on public policy, popular support for the parties, and the composition of the party coalitions

political party

an ongoing coalition of interests joined together to try to get their candidates for public office elected under a common label

primary election

also called a direct primary, a form of election in which voters choose a party’s nominees for public office

in most states, eligibility to vote in a primary election is limited to voters who designated themselves as party members when they registered to vote

proportional representation system

a form of representation in which seats in the legislature are allocated proportionally according to each political party’s share of the popular vote. This system enables smaller parties to compete successfully for seats

single-member districts

the form of representation in which only the candidate who gets the most votes in a district wins office

single-member system

also called a winner-take-all system or a plurality, an electoral system in which the candidate who gets the most votes (the plurality) in an election district is elected to office from that district.

two-party system

a system in which only two political parties have a chance of acquiring control of the government