elections

bipartisan campaign reform act

a 2002 law to limit soft money donations to political parties

incumbent

a candidate for office who presently holds that office and is running for reelection

caucus

a meeting of party members where delegates are selected to support a candidate for a party’s presedential nomination or other party issues are discussed. Occur at local, state, and national levels

primary election

an election among members of the same political party, designed to narrow the field or identify the person who will ultimately serve as the party;s nominee for a particular office

electors

persons selected by each state to czst electoral college votes

congressional district

one of 435 legally established areas of a state represented by one member of the house of representatives. Each congressional district is approximately equal in population to all others

brokered convention

a national party convention where no candidate for the party;s presidential nomination enters with a majority of the conventions delegates, resulting in negotiating by “power brokers” to agree on a nominee

district method

a method of allocating the electoral votes of a state in a presidential election among candidates according to the popular vote in each congressional district. The district method is rare, with most states using the winner-takes-all method

faithless electors

a disparaging name for electors who violate their pledge to support a particular presidential candidate, voting instead for someone else

safe states

a state with historically strong leanings toward a particular political party, requiring relatively little effort from that party to win campaigns; the oppositie of a swing state

What is the difference between hard money and soft money?

Hard money is spent by a candidate or campaign while soft money is spent by a political action committee.

Hard money is lightly regulated while soft money is heavily regulated.

Hard money is received by a campaign while soft money is pledged to a campaign.

Campaigns use hard money to pay for staffing and expenses and use soft money for efforts to influence voters.

hard money is spent by a candidate or campaign while soft money is spent by a political action committee

What was an outcome of the rise of primary systems during the Progressive Era?

Reversed a process of democratizing the nomination of political party candidates

Shifted control over candidate nomination from national party officials to state party officials

Allowed state legislatures greater ability to control the scope of voter choice in the general election

Decreased the control of political parties over the candidate nomination process

decreased the control of political parties over the candidate nomination process. The use of primary elections is intended to give more control to regular party members for selecting a party’s candidates

When does a brokered convention occur?

No candidate acquires a majority of a party's delegates before the start of its convention

Deals are made in formulating the national party's platform

The convention is delayed to resolve candidate claims over delegates

Two candidates for a party's nomination agree to merge campaigns at the national convention

when no candidate acquires a majority of a party’s delegates before the start of its convention