Campaigns and Financing Chapter 18 : Lesson 3 Campaigns and Financing

Essential Question How are campaigns run and how do they try to influence voters?

The word Idiot Idiot- comes from the Greek word idiotes, which in ancient Athens referred to citizens who did not vote or otherwise take part in public life—they were ignorant of public affairs

Harry S. Truman “Being a president is like riding a tiger. A man has to keep riding or be swallowed. A president is either constantly on top of events, or, if he hesitates, events will soon be on top of him.”

Campaign Manager: the person responsible for the overall strategy and planning of a campaign

Propaganda: the use of ideas, information, or rumors to influence opinion

Propaganda Involves using ideas, information, or rumors to influence opinion. Propaganda is not necessarily lying or deceptions Uses information in any way that supports a predetermined objective There are 7 propaganda techniques

1. Labeling Name calling; identifying a candidate with a term such as “Un-American”

2. Spin Interpreting a political event or statement from a particular point of view

3. Card Stacking Giving only one side of the facts to support a candidate’s position

4. Transfer Associating a patriotic symbol with a candidate

5. Plain folks One of the oldest, identifying the candidate as “just one of the common people”

6. Testimonial A celebrity endorses a candidate

7. The Bandwagon Urging voters to support a candidate because everyone else is

Issues in Election Campaigns TV has helped spread campaign issues Voters today are better educated than voters of the past Current issues seem to have a greater impact on personal lives than they have in a while

Hard Money: direct contributions to a candidates political campaign

Soft Money: money raised by a political party for general purposes; money not designated for a candidate

Corruption: impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle

The Candidate’s Image Just as important as issues themselves is the way the voters perceive the issues Most voters select candidate on image alone Want president they can trust Candidate must at least be viewed as competent to handle to job and problems that go with it Candidates must then convey the impression that they have these certain qualities

Basil Marceaux http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnx-SqMYknI&feature=related

Campaign Financing Presidential Primaries and General Elections are PUBLICLY funded Raise $5,000 in 20 states and you can get individual contributions up to $250 matched by federal Treasury Regulated by FEC (a panel of 6 from each major party appointed by the President and approved by the Senate to monitor money spent and earned)

The Campaign Finance Laws Individual Contribution Limits A person is limited to $2,300 annual contribution per candidate A person is limited to $28,500 total annual contribution to national political parties

Political Action Committee (PAC): An organization formed to collect money and provide financial support for political candidates

The Campaign Finance Laws Political Action Committees (PACs) PACs are limited to $5,000 annual contributions to individual candidates, other PACs, or state political parties PACs are limited to $15,000 annual contributions to national parties

SuperPAC: a political action committee that does not coordinate with election campaigns and thus is eligible to receive unlimited donations

Coverage of the Campaign: The Media & Public Opinion Polls What voters hear and see of the candidate is primarily determined by the media in two forms Paid media – Ads by candidates and interest groups Free media – Coverage by the news media Public Opinion (how people feel about candidates, elected officials and the government) is measured by public opinion polls (surveys) and used by politicians to do their job and candidates to run their campaigns.

Review Question: Chapter 18 : Lesson 3 Read pages 552-558 and answer Review Questions on page 558. Hand in Google Class Room.