ALL FACTS AND TERMS

Mass Media

Popular means of communication (TV, radio, internet, newspapers) that reach and influence a wide audience.

Media Event

An event purposely staged for the media that nonetheless looks spontaneous.

Press Conference

Meetings of public officials with reporters.

Investigative Journalism

The use of in-depth reporting to unearth scandals, scams, and schemes, putting reporters in adversarial relationships with political leaders.

Narrowcasting

Media programming on cable TV or the internet focused on a particular interest and aimed at a particular audience (e.g., MTV, ESPN, or Fox News).

Selective Exposure

The process through which people consciously choose to get the news from information sources that have viewpoints compatible with their own.

Chains

Groups of newspapers published by media conglomerates and today accounting for over four-fifths of the nation's daily newspaper circulation.

Trial Balloons

Intentional news leaks for the purpose of assessing the political reaction.

Sound Bites

Short video clips of approximately 10 seconds. Typically, they are all that is shown from a politician's speech on the nightly news.

Talking Head

A shot of a person's face talking directly to the camera; because such shots are visually unstimulating, the major networks rarely show politicians talking at length.

Policy Agenda

The issues that attract the serious attention of public officials and other people actively involved in politics at the time.

Policy Entrepreneurs

People who invest their political 'capital' in an issue to get it onto the policy agenda.

Political Party

A team of people seeking to control the governing apparatus by gaining office in a duly constituted election.

Linkage Institution

The channels through which people's concerns become political issues on the government's policy agenda (e.g., parties, elections, interest groups, and media).

Rational-Choice Theory

A popular theory in political science to explain the actions of voters as well as politicians. It assumes that individuals act in their own best interest, carefully weighing the costs and benefits of possible alternatives.

Ticket Splitting

Voting with one party for one office and with another party for other offices.

Patronage

A system in which jobs and promotions are awarded for political reasons rather than for merit or competence.

Closed Primary

Elections to select party nominees in which only people who have registered in advance with the party can vote for that party's candidates.

Open Primary

Elections to select party nominees in which voters can decide on Election Day whether they want to participate in the Democratic or Republican contests.

National Convention

The meeting of party delegates every four years to choose a presidential ticket and write the party's platform.

Coalition

A group of individuals with a common interest on which every political party depends.

Party Eras

Historical periods in which a majority of voters cling to the party in power, which tends to win a majority of the elections.

Critical Election

An electoral 'earthquake' where new issues emerge, new coalitions replace old ones, and the majority party is often displaced by the minority party.

Party Realignment

The displacement of the majority party by the minority party, usually during a critical election period.

Third Parties

Electoral contenders other than the two major parties. They rarely win elections but can influence the policy agenda.

Winner-Take-All System

An electoral system in which legislative seats are awarded only to the candidates who come in first in their constituencies.

Proportional Representation

An electoral system used throughout most of Europe that awards legislative seats to political parties in proportion to the number of votes won in an election.

Coalition Government

When two or more parties join together to form a majority in a national legislature (common in multi-party systems).

Blue Dog Democrat

Fiscally conservative Democrats who are mostly from the South and/or rural parts of the United States.

Nomination

The official endorsement of a candidate for office by a political party.

McGovern-Fraser Commission

A commission formed at the 1968 Democratic convention in response to demands for reform by minority groups and others who sought better representation.

Superdelegates

National party leaders who automatically get a delegate slot at the national party convention.

Caucus

A system for selecting convention delegates used in about a dozen states in which voters must attend an open meeting to express their presidential preference.

Party Platform

A political party's statement of its goals and policies for the next four years.

Campaign Contribution

Donations that are made directly to a candidate or a party and that must be reported to the FEC.

Federal Election Campaign Act

A law passed in 1974 for reforming campaign finances; it created the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and provided for limits on and disclosure of campaign contributions.

Soft Money

Political contributions earmarked for party-building expenses at the grassroots level or for generic party advertising. Such contributions were unlimited until they were banned by the McCain-Feingold Act.

Political Action Committee (PAC)

Groups that raise money from individuals and then distribute it in the form of contributions to candidates that the group supports.

527 Groups

Independent political groups that are not subject to contribution restrictions because they do not directly seek the election of particular candidates.

Citizens United v. FEC (2010)

A landmark Supreme Court case that ruled that individuals, corporations, and unions could donate unlimited amounts of money to groups that make independent political expenditures.

501(c) Groups

Groups that are exempted from reporting their contributors and can receive unlimited contributions. Section 501c of the tax code specifies that such groups cannot spend more than half their funds on political activities.

Super PACs

Independent expenditure-only PACs that may accept donations of any size and can endorse candidates. Their contributions and expenditures must be periodically reported to the FEC.

Political Efficacy

The belief that one's political participation really matters—that one's vote can actually make a difference.

Voter Registration

A system adopted by the states that requires voters to register prior to voting.

Motor Voter Act

A 1993 act that requires states to permit people to register to vote when they apply for a driver's license.

Electoral College

A unique American institution created by the Constitution, providing for the selection of the president by electors chosen by the state parties.

Battleground States

The key states that the presidential campaigns focus on because they are most likely to decide the outcome of the Electoral College vote.

Interest Group

An organization of people with shared policy goals entering the policy process at several points to try to achieve those goals.

Pluralism

A theory of government and politics emphasizing that many groups, each pressing for its preferred policies, compete and counterbalance one another in the political marketplace.

Elitism

A theory of government and politics contending that an upper-class elite will hold nearly all real power and thus effectively run the government.

Hyper-pluralism

A theory of government and politics contending that groups are so strong that government, seeking to please them all, is thereby weakened.

Iron Triangle

Also known as subgovernments, iron triangles consist of interest groups, government agencies, and congressional committees or subcommittees that have a mutually dependent, mutually advantageous relationship.

Potential Group

All the people who might be interest group members because they share some common interest.

Actual Group

The people in the potential group who actually join.

Free-Rider Problem

For a group, the problem of people not joining because they can benefit from the group's activities without joining.

Collective Good

Something of value that cannot be withheld from a potential group member.

Selective Benefits

Goods that a group can restrict to those who actually join.

Single-Issue Group

Groups that have a narrow interest, tend to dislike compromise, and often draw membership from people new to politics.

Lobbying

A communication, by someone other than a citizen acting on his or her own behalf, directed to a governmental decision-maker with the hope of influencing his or her decision.

Electioneering

Direct group involvement in the electoral process, for example, by helping to fund campaigns, getting members to work for candidates, and forming political action committees (PACs).

Union Shop

A provision found in some collective bargaining agreements requiring all employees of a business to join the union within a short period, usually 30 days, and to remain members as a condition of employment.

Right-to-Work Law

A state law forbidding requirements that workers must join a union to hold their jobs.

Public Interest Lobbies/Groups

Organizations that seek a collective good, the achievement of which will not selectively and materially benefit the membership or activists of the organization.