Lauryn Berretta AP Gov 4 November 2008

 Elections have two crucial phases- getting nominated and getting elected.  Individual effort- you decide to run, you raise money, you and your friends collect signatures to get your name...  Organizational decision- the party decides and does everything  European nations(except France) do not have a directly elected president, they have a prime minister.

 In the early nineteenth century the members of Congress would meet to pick their candidate.  More people were likely to vote with their party, regardless of the candidate.

 Presidential races are:  Larger in size  More competitive than those in the House of Representatives  Have a lot larger proportion of people voting than the congressional races during off years of presidential elections  Congress:  Can do things for their constitutions that a president cannot(ex. Get credit for a bridge, contract)  A candidate for congress can deny that he or she id responsible for the troubles in Washington.

 Congressional incumbents get reelected so often because of low voter turnout, services to constituents, the ability to dodge responsibility.  Coattails- the tendency of lesser known or weaker candidates to profit in the election by the presence on the ticket of a more popular candidate.

 The candidate must first “get mentioned” as someone of “presidential caliber” through:  Making it known to reporters “off the record”  Making many speeches  Having a famous name  Being identified with a major piece of legislation  Being a governor of a big state

 Money  It takes a long time to raise enough money.  Political action committees can give $5,000 to the candidate, while individuals can only give $2,000.  Organization  Candidate needs: ▪ A staff(fund-raisers, lawyers, accountants) ▪ Volunteers from certain states with primary elections ▪ Assemble Advisors to write “position papers”  Strategy and Themes  What tone, theme, timing, target audience?

 Who serves in Congress, and what interests are represented there, is affected by how its members are elected.  Initially some states did not create congressional districts; all their representations were elected at large.  In other states representatives were elected from multimember as well as single-member districts.

 Malapportionment- drawing boundaries of political districts so that districts are very unequal in population  Gerrymandering- Drawing the boundaries of political districts in bizarre or unusual shapes to make it easy for candidates of the party on power to win elections in those districts.

 The four problems to solve in deciding who gets represented in the House:  Establishing the total size of the House  Allocating seats in the House among states  Determining the size of congressional districts within states  Determining the shape of those districts

 Winning the Primary  Candidates form groups of their personal followings to win party nomination.  Sophomore surge- when many newly elected members become strong in their districts quickly.  Congress may choose to run against the government by saying they will “clean things up.”  Staying in Office  Legislators are closely tied to local concerns  Party leaders will have weak influence over them.  Delegates- focus on being reelected  Trustees- use their best judgment without regard to preferences of district

 Primary elections and caucuses- select nominees  General elections- select who wins office  To win the nomination you must mobilize political activists who will give money, do volunteer work and attend local caucuses.  To vote in the Republican caucus you don’t need to be Republican or a voter.  For the Democratic caucus, groups of people support different candidates and yell back and forth at each other until a decision is made.

 To get activist or extremist support, candidates move to ideological extremes to try to win the election.  “Clothespin vote”- a vote cast by a person who does not like either candidate and votes for the less objectionable one.

 Position issue- one in which the rival candidates have opposing views on a question that divides the voters.  Valence issue- whether a candidate fully supports the public’s view on a matter about which nearly everyone agrees.

 Running campaigns has become separated from the process of governing.  Two ways to use television-  Paid advertisement  Getting on the nightly news broadcasts  Spots- short television ads, “the selling of the president”  Visual- a campaign activity that appears on a news broadcast  They cost the campaign little and have greater credibility with the viewer  News programs covering elections tend to convey very little information and make little impression.

 Debates:  Are risky because the “slip of the tongue”  The candidates rely on stock speeches that set out the campaign themes as well as on their abiility to string together several proven applause-getting lines.  The “brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God” (BOMFOG)- a carefully composed talk on some critical issue designed to provide issue-related stories for the reporters to write  Computer- makes direct-mail campaigning easy and rapid by addressing specific appeals  Direct mail- aimed at particular groups with specific views, “The List”

 General election- fill an elective office  Primary election- select a party’s candidates for an elective office  Closed primary- you must declare in advance that you are a registered member of the political party in whose primary you wish to vote  Open primary- you can decide when you enter the voting booth which parties primary you wish to participate in  Blanket primary- in booth, you mark a ballot that lists the candidates of all the parties  Runoff primary-if there is no majority, there is a runoff between the two with the most votes  Presidential primary- used to pick delegates to the presidential nominating conventions of the major parties

 Money pays for the many TV ads and computerized mailing.  It is not obvious that the candidates with the most money invested in their campaign will win because the spending usually cancels out.

 Presidential candidates get part of their money from private donors and part from the federal government; congressional candidates get all of their money from private sources.  The government also gives a lump-sum grant to each political party to help pay the costs of its nominating convention.  Congressional candidates get no government funds.

 The Watergate scandal caused a new campaign finance law to be passed.  Under the law:  Individuals could not contribute more than $1,000 to a candidate during any single election.  Federal tax money was made available to help pay for presidential primary campaigns.  Matching funds- any candidate who raises at least $5,000 in individual contributions of $250 or less from people living in twenty states  If you are a minor-party candidate, you can get some support of the government if you have 5% of votes in the last election.

 Independent expenditures- Spending by political action committees on political matters that is done directly and not by giving money to a candidate or party.  Soft money- Funds solicited from individuals, corporations, and unions that are spent on party activities, rather than on behalf of a specific candidate. These funds need not be reported to the Federal Election Commission.

 The 2000 campaign caused the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002, which made three important changes:  banned “soft money” contributions to national political parties from corporations and unions.  The limit on individual contributions was raised to $2,000 per candidate per election.  “Independent expenditures” by corporations, labor unions, trade associations and nonprofit organizations are sharply restricted.

 In the general election, the presidential money does not make a huge difference.  Voters care about character and some money goes to fund “character ads.”  Money does make a decisive difference in congressional races because of the incumbents resilience to stay in office.