Chapter 9 AP Gov Vocabulary: Nominations and Campaigns

nomination

The official endorsement of a candidate for office by a political party. Generally, success in the nomination game requires momentum, money, and media attention.

campaign strategy

The master game plan candidates lay out to guide their electoral campaign.

national party convention

The supreme power within each of the parties. The convention meets every four years to nominate the party's presidential candidates and to write the party's platform.

caucus

A meeting of all state party leaders for selecting delegates to the national party convention. Caucuses are usually organized as a pyramid.

presidential primaries

Elections in which voters in a state may vote for a candidate (or delegates pledged to him or her). Most delegates to the national party conventions are chosen this way.

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 Democratic national party convention.

frontloading

The recent tendency of states to hold primaries early in the calendar in order to capitalize on media attention.

national primary

A proposal by critics of the caucuses and presidential primaries, which would replace these electoral methods with a nationwide primary held early in the election year.

regional primaries

A proposal by critics of the caucuses and presidential primaries to replace these electoral methods with a series of primaries held in each geographic region.

party platform

A political party's statement of its goals and policies for the next four years. The platform is drafted prior to the party convention by a committee whose members are chosen in rough proportion to each candidate's strength. It is the best formal statement of a party's beliefs.

direct mail

A high-tech method of raising money for a political cause or candidate. It involves sending information and requests for money to people whose names appear on lists of those who have supported similar views or candidates in the past.

Federal Election Campaign Act

A law passed in 1974 for reforming campaign finances. The act created the Federal Election Commission, provided public financing for presidential primaries and general elections, limited presidential campaign spending, required disclosure, and attempted to limit contributions.

Federal Election Commission

A six-member bipartisan agency created by the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974. They administer and enforce campaign finance laws.

Presidential Election Campaign Fund

Money from the $3 federal income tax check-off goes into this fund, which is then distributed to qualified candidates to subsidize their presidential campaigns.

matching funds

Contributions of up to $250 are matched from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund to candidates for the presidential nomination who qualify and agree to meet various conditions, such as limiting their overall spending.

soft money

Political contributions earmarked for party-building expenses at the grass roots level or for generic party advertising. Unlike money that goes to the campaign of a particular candidate, such party donations are not subject to contribution limits. For a time, such contributions were unlimited, until they were banned by the McCain-Feingold Act.

527 groups

Independent groups that seek to influence the political process but are not subject to contribution restrictions because they do not directly seek the election of particular candidates. Their name comes from Section 527 of the federal tax code, under which they are governed.

political action committees

Funding vehicles created by the 1974 campaign finance reforms. A corporation, union, or some other interest group can create a political action committee (PAC) and register it with the Federal Election Commission, which will meticulously monitor the PAC's expenditures.

selective perception

The phenomenon that people often pay the most attention to things they already agree with and interpret them according to their own predispositions.

primary election

A meeting of the voters of a political party in an election district for nominating candidates for office and choosing delegates for a convention.

general election

An election held to choose which candidate will hold office.

run-off election

A second primary or election held when no candidate wins a majority of the votes in the first primary or election.

mid-term election

Non-Presidential elections (ex. Senate and House) that occur midway through a presidential term.

independent expenditures

Spending by PACs, corporations, or labor unions to help a party or candidate but done independently of them.

hard money

Political contributions given to a party, candidate, or interest group that are limited in amount and fully disclosed.

"winner take all"

A system in which the candidate with the most district votes in a state gets all of the delegate votes from that state.

single member districts

An electoral district in which voters choose one representative or official.

super PACs

May raise unlimited amounts of money to spend for or against candidates, but they may not coordinate their spending with the candidate's campaigns and their contributors must be disclosed.

501(c)(4)

The origins of _____ organizations date back to the Revenue Act of 1913, which created a new group of tax-exempt organizations dedicated to social welfare in a precursor to what is now Internal Revenue Code Section _______.

Citizens United v Federal Election Commission

US Supreme court struck down as unconstitutional provisions that prohibited independent expenditures by business corportations, nonprofit organizations and unions to fund "electioneering communications" within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election; Supreme Court case that ruled corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections cannot be limited under the First Amendment.

Buckley v Valeo

Candidates can use as much of their own money on their own campaigns; A case in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld federal limits on campaign contributions and ruled that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally protected free speech. The court also stated candidates can give unlimited amounts of money to their own campaigns.

McCain-Feingold Act

(2002) Banned soft money contributions, increased the amount that individuals could give candidates from $1000 to $2000, prevented issue ads within 60 days of general elections.

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act

Another name for McCain-Feingold Act