[AP Gov Pol US] Unit 5 Vocabulary

elections

• Elections must be regularly scheduled

• The terms are varied

  • Fixed terms: the length of term in office is set

  • Staggered terms: not all candidates are elected at the same time

  • Term limits: some positions and states require term limits for candidate positions. 

It is a winner-take-all system: The candidate with the most votes wins.

coattails

the alleged tendency of candidates to win more votes in an election because of the presence of a top of the ticket candidate such as the president

rules of presidential election

Stage 1: Nomination

• Presidential Primaries are held in various states across the nation to determine which candidate should be selected during the nominating convention.

• Caucus: a meeting of party members and supporters of various candidates. Delegates are chosen and those delegates go on to the state convention to select a candidate.

Stage 2: The Convention

• the summer before the national elections, the parties select a presidential and vice presidential candidate

Stage 3: The General Election

• The First Tuesday after the First Monday in November

the Electoral college

The Electoral College system imposes two requirements on candidates for the presidency:

·   that the victor obtain a sufficient popular vote to enable him to govern (270 out of 538 electoral votes)

·  that such a popular vote be sufficiently distributed across the country to enable him to govern.

Winner take all: the candidate who receives a plurality of votes will all of the Electoral College votes for that state.

political parties

organizations that seek political power by electing people to office so that its positions and philosophy become public policy.

• Political parties exists in three arenas

  • Among voters who identify with a party

  • As a grassroots organization staffed and led by activists

  • As a group of elected officials who seek to act on its ideals

why political parties matter

Political parties are essential to democracy:

1. simplifying voting choices: Recruit and nominate candidates

2. organizing the competition: register voters, train candidates, determine the nominating rules, establish direct primaries or state caucuses. 

3. unifying the electorate: avoid defining themselves by a single issues therefore opening up the opportunity for more voters.

4. bridging the separation of powers and fostering cooperation among branches of government: elect leadership based on party faithful (patronage system)

5. translating public preferences into policy: winning parties can set policy through legislative action.

6. providing loyal opposition: speaking out against opposition party needs to wait until the “honeymoon” is over.

third (minor) parties

1. Party spoilers- diverting votes away from major party candidates. 

2. Proportional representation: candidates receive a portion of legislators corresponding to a proportion of votes.

3. Minor parties rise and fall based on candidates and ideological issues. They have an indirect influence in our country by drawing significance to major issues.

4. It is difficult for them to get on the ballot in many states

realigning (critical) elections

election periods of expanded suffrage and economic changes. Usually brought on by key political issues.

Characterized by intense electoral participation.

1. Disruption of traditional voting patterns

   1. A major party is so badly defeated it disappears and a new party emerges

      1. Existing parties continue, but loyalty shifts

2. Changes in the community

3. Formations of election groups

fall of political parties

people are identifying with a party less and less

more people are voting split ticket (voting for various candidates of different parties across offices in the same election)

party membership seems meaningless

interest group

A group in which members share views and objectives and actively carry on programs to influence government (mass mailing, ads, electioneering, litigation)

lobbying

any activity aimed at influencing public officials, especially legislators, and the policies they enact.

Lobbyists perform useful functions for government, such as providing information pertinent to decision-making, educating and mobilizing public opinion, and even preparing and testifying about legislation. 

Public Interest Lobby: a political organization whose goals will principally benefit nonmembers

Political Action Committee (PAC)

organizations dedicated to raising and spending money to either elect or defeat political candidates.

• By law, PACs are limited in the amount of money they can contribute to any single candidate in an election cycle. 

• PACs can host fundraisers attended by other PACs to boost their reputation with the candidate, or they can collect money from several persons and give them to the candidate as a packet in a practice called "bundling." 

Super Pacs-larger organizations, unions, associations that do not have limits on contributions.

activities and impact of interest groups / PAC

• Earmarks: exchange of information with congress, then congress provides special provisions in legislations to benefits those clients. In 2008, OMB estimated over 11,000 earmarks costing $16 million

• Fundraising: although tightly regulated, PAC organizations is an important, but not effective goal to raise money in order to get a candidate elected or legislation passed. PACs provide 1/3 of the money to get House candidates elected, but there is not evidence PAC money influences votes.

• Influence of elections: incumbents get the most PAC money. Both the republican and the democratic parties are dependent on PAC money

• New politics: 

  • insider strategy: they worked closely with a few key members of congress to exchange information and sometimes favors. 

  • Outsider strategy: grassroots mobilization of the issue public in hopes of exerting pressure to get government policy passed

• revolving door: federal politicians leave to take more lucrative positions in private industry

campaign money

• Campaign money in the U.S. system comes in various forms:

  • Independent expenditures: spending on a political action committee or labor union to help a party or candidate but done independent of the candidate’s wishes

  • "Hard money" refers to donations made directly to political candidates. These must be declared with the name of the donor, which becomes public knowledge, and are limited by legislation.

  •  "Soft money" is money that is not made directly to a candidate's campaign, but is spent on an activity, especially "issue advertising", which are advertisements for a candidate's positions or thinly veiled attacks on the opponent's positions, that obviously benefit the candidate. 

Federal Election Act 1971

• Limited the amount of money that candidates from federal office could spend on advertising

• Required the disclosure of the sources of campaign funds

• Required political action committees to register with the government and report all contributions and expenditures.

• Established a checkbox for taxpayers to contribute to a fund to subsidize a candidate.

Buckley v. Valeo (1976)

Considered the Federal Election campaign act of 1971. The Court upheld federal limits on campaign contributions even as it ruled that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally protected free speech.

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (2002)

Mc-Cain Feingold Act

• Banned most types of soft money especially those being contributed to the political parties from corporations

• Limited the amount an individual can contribute

• Limited independent expenditures 

• Limited the amount that can be contributed to a state or local election for voter registration.

• prohibited "electioneering communications" paid for by incorporated entities.

  • broadcast advertisements mentioning a candidate by name within 30 days of a primary election or 60 days of a general election, and reaching at least 40,000 people in the relevant electorate

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)

• Citizens United (conservative non-profit, funded in part by corporate donations) wanted to run a documentary on Hillary Clinton that discouraged people from voting for her in the 2008 Democratic primary elections.

• BCRA limited “electioneering communications”

• SC rules 5-4 that campaign finance limits violate free speech, so corporations / unions can spend freely on political ads leading up to the election

other campaign money

• Individual contributions

  • Most candidates receive a majority of their funds from individuals

  • Maximum per candidates: $ per election 

  • Maximum per election cycle: $15,000

• McCutcheon v. FEC (2014) there is no longer an aggregate limit on how much an individual can give in total to all candidates, PACs and party committees combined.

• 527 organizations

  • A form of tax exempt organization (named after the 527 tax code) designed to permit soft-money expenditures once made by political parties

  • Can spend the money on politics as long as they do not coordinate with a candidate or lobby directly for that person

dark money

political spending from undisclosed sources; rose significantly after Citizens United

the media

A linkage institute that communicates with the mass public and comes in multiple formats.

• provide citizens with political information

• provide news events

• conduct investigative journalism

• provide election coverage

• promote political commentary

Gatekeeper: influence what subjects become national political issues and for how long

Scorekeeper: tracks political reputations and candidates

Watchdog: investigates personalities and exposes scandal

horse race journalism

focus is more on polling data than candidate policy issues (gatekeeping)

media consultants

Image making and image consulting-tell the candidates how to dress, what tie to wear, and what will appeal to audiences

factors that limit media influence

Political socialization: influences of our values and attitudes

Selective exposure: screening out messages that do not conform to a person’s own biases

Selective perception: perceiving what a person wants from the media message

Recall and comprehension: when there is too much information, it is necessary for a person to pick out what is important to them.

Audience fragmentation: disparate impact of the press due to the variety of media sources.