Pols 206 Exam 2 Kent

Beats

Specific locations from which news frequently emanates, such as Congress or the White House. Most top reporters work a particular beat, thereby becoming specialists in what goes on at that location.

Chains

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

Electronic Media

Television, radio, and the Internet, as compared with print media.

High-tech politics

A politics in which the behavior of citizens and policymakers and the political agenda itself are increasingly shaped by technology.

investigative journalism

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

Mass Media

Television, radio, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, and other means of popular communication.

Media events

Events that are purposely staged for the media and that are significant just because the media are there.

Narrowcasting

Media programming on cable TV or the Internet that is focused on one topic and aimed at a particular audience. Examples include MTV, ESPN, and C-SPAN.

Net Neutrality

A former federal regulatory policy holding that internet service providers must provide equal access to broadband for all websites to their customers. Democrats on the Federal Communication Commission favored this policy where Republicans engineered a repeal of the policy at the federal level, arguing that it represented unnecessary government regulation of the internet.

Policy entrepreneurs

people who invest their political "capital" in an issue. According to John Kingdon, a policy entrepreneur "could be in and out of government, in elected or appointed positions, in interest groups or research organizations"

Press Conferences

meetings of public officials with reporters

Print Media

Newspapers and magazines, as compared with electronic media.

Selective exposure

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

Sound bites

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

Talking Head

A shot of a person's face talking directly to the camera. Because such shots are visually unsimiulating, the major networks rarely show politicians talking for very long.

Trial Balloons

Policy ideas floated to the media for the purpose of assessing the likely political reaction.

501(c) groups

Groups that are exempted from reporting their contributions 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.

527 Groups

Independent political groups that are not subject to contribution restrictions because they do not directly seek the election of particular candidates. Section 527 of the tax code specifies that contributions to such groups must be reported to the IRS.

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.

Campaign Contributions

donations that are made directly to a candidate or a party and that must be reported to the FEC. As of 2020, individuals were allowed to donate up to $2,800 per election to a candidate and up to $35,500 to a political party.

Campaign strategy

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

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.

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

A 2010 landmark Supreme Court case that ruled that individuals, corporations, and unions could donate unlimited amounts of money to groups that make independent political expenditures.

Civic duty

The belief that in order to support democratic government, a citizen should vote.

Direct Mail

A method of raising money for a political cause or candidate, in which information and requests for money are sent to people whose names appear on lists of those who have supported similar views or candidates in the past.

Electoral College

A unique American institution created by the Constitution, providing for the selection of the president by electors chosen by the state parties. Although the Electoral College vote usually reflects a popular majority, less populated states are overrepresented and the winner-take-all rule concentrates campaigns on close states.

Federal Election Campaign Act

A law passed in 1974 for reforming campaign finances. The act created the Federal Election Commission (FEC), 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. The federal Election Commission administers and enforces campaign finance laws.

Frontloading

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

Independent Expenditures

Expenses on behalf of a political message that are made by groups that are uncoordinated with any candidate's campaign.

Invisible Primary

The period before any votes are cast when candidates compete to win early support from the elite of the party and to create a positive first impression of their leadership skills.

Mandate theory of Elections

The idea that the winning candidate has a mandate from the people to carry out his or her platforms and politics. Politicians like the theory better than political scientists do.

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.

Motor Voter Act

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

National Party Convention

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

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.

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.

Policy voting

electoral choices that are made on the basis of the voters' policy preferences and on the basis of where the candidates stand on policy issues

Political Action Committees

groups that raise money from individuals and then distribute it in the form of contributions to candidates that the group supports. PACs must register with he FEC and report their donations and contributions to it. Individual contributions to a PAC are limited to $5,000 per year, and a PAC may give up to $5000 to a candidate for each election.

Politcal Efficacy

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

Presidential Primaries

Elections in which a state's voters go to the polls to express their preference for a party's nominee for president. The vast majority of delegates to the national party conventions are chosen this way..

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.

soft money

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

Superdelegates

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

Super PACs

Independent expenditure-only PACs are known as Super PACs because they may accept donations of any size and can endorse candidates. Their contributions and expenditures must be periodically reported to the FEC.

voter registration

A system adopted by the states that requires voters to register well in advance of Election Day. A few states permit Election day registration.

Baker v. Carr

The 1962 Supreme Court ruling that allowed federal courts to review the boundaries of legislative districts.

bicameral legislature

A legislature divided into two houses. The U.S Congress and all state legislatures except Nebraska's are bicameral.

Bill

A proposed law, drafted in legal language. Anyone can draft a bill, but only a member of the House of Representatives or the Senate can formally submit a bill for consideration.

Casework

Activities of members of Congress that help constituents as individual, particularly by cutting through bureaucratic red tape to get people what they think they have a right to get.

Caucus

(congressional) A group of members of Congress sharing some interest or characteristics. Many are composed of members from parties and from both houses.

Committee Chairs

The important influencers of their committees' agendas, committee chairs play the dominant roles in scheduling hearings, hiring staff, appointing subcommittees, and managing bills when they are brought before the full house.

Conference Committees

Congressional committees formed when the senate and the house pass a particular bill in different forms. Party leadership appoints members from each house to iron out the differences and bring back single bill.

filibuster

A strategy unique to the Senate whereby opponents of a piece of legislation try to talk it to death, based on the tradition of unlimited debate. Today, 60 members present and voting can halt a filibuster.

incumbent

Those individuals who already hold office. In congressional elections, incumbents usually win.

legislative oversight

Congress's monitoring of the executive branch bureaucracy and its administration of policy, performed mainly though committee hearings

majority leader

The principal partisan ally of the Speaker of the House or the party's manager in the Senate. The majority leader is responsible for scheduling bills, influencing committee assignments, and rounding up votes in behalf of the party's legislative positions.

minority leader

The principal leader of the minority party in the House of Representatives or in the Senate.

Pork Barrel

Federal projects, grants, and contracts available to state and local governments, businesses, colleges, and other institutions in a congressional district.

Seniority system

A simple rule for picking committee chairs, in effect until the 1970s. The member who had served on the committee the longest and whose party controlled the chamber became chair, regardless of party loyalty, mental state, or competence.

Speaker of the House

An office mandated by the Constitution. The Speaker is chosen in practice by the majority party, has both formal and informal powers, and is second in line to succeed to the presidency should that office become vacant.

standing committee

Committees in each house of Congress that handle bills in different policy areas.

Whips

Party leaders who work with the majority leader or minority leader to count votes beforehand and lean on waverers whose votes are crucial to a bill favored by the party.

Cabinet

A group of presidential advisers not mentioned in the Constitution, although every president has had one. Today the cabinet is composed of 14 secretaries, the attorney general, and others designated by the president.

Council of Economic Advisors

A three-member body appointed by the president to advise the president on economic policy.

Crisis

A sudden, unpredictable, and potentially dangerous event requiring the president to play the role of crisis manager.

executive order

regulations originating with the executive branch. Executive orders are one method presidents can use to control the bureaucracy

Impeachment

The political equivalent of an indictment in criminal laws, prescribed by the Constitution. The House of Representatives may impeach the president by a majority vote for "Treason, Bribery, or other high crimes and Misdemeanors."

Legislative veto

a vote in Congress to override a presidential decision. Although the war powers resolution asserts this authority, there is reason to believe that, if challenged, the Supreme Court would find the legislative veto in violation of the doctrine of separation of powers.

Natural Security Council

(NSC) The committee that links the president's foreign and military policy advisors. Its formal members are the president, Vice President, Secretary of State, and secretary of defense, and it is managed by the president's national security assistant.

Office of Management and Budget

(OMB) An office that prepares the president's budget and also advises presidents on proposals from departments and agencies and helps review their proposed regulations.

pocket veto

A type of veto occurring when Congress adjourns within 10 days of submitting a bill to the president and the president simply lets the bill die by neither signing nor vetoing it.

Twenty-fifth Amendment

Ratified in 1967, this amendment permits the vice president to become acting president if the vice president and the president's cabinet determine that the president is disabled, and it outlines how a recuperated president can reclaim the job.

Twenty-second Amendment

Passed in 1951, the amendment that limits presidents to two terms of office.

Veto

The constitutional power of the president to send a bill back to Congress with reasons for rejecting it. A two-thirds vote in each house can override a veto.

War powers resolution

A law passed in 1973 in reaction to American fighting in Vietnam and Cambodia that requires presidents to consult with Congress whenever possible prior to using military force and to withdraw forces after 60 days unless Congress declares war or grants an extension. Presidents view the resolution as unconstitutional.

Watergate

The events and scandal surrounding a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in 1972 and the subsequent cover-up of White House involvement, leading to the eventual resignation of President Nixon under the threat of impeachment.