POLITICAL PARTIES READ CHAPTER 12!!

POLITICAL PARTIES  Organized effort by office holders, activist, and voters to peruse their common interest by gaining and exercising power though the electoral process.  Parties are necessary, and they perform vital functions in American politics. However, they are complicated, disorganized, full of internal conflict and decentralized.  Parties are related a democratic political process.  They are Partisanship: The doing of governmental business based on a firm loyalty/ commitment to a political party

MINOR PARTIES (3 RD PARTIES) Although the U.S. has many minor parties, only the two major parties have much of a chance to win elections. Multiparty systems are almost always found in countries that have a parliamentary government, in contrast to our presidential system.  Libertarian Party  Green Party  Reform Party  Protest Parties  Tea Party

MINOR PARTIES (3 RD PARTIES)  Proportional representation used in Europe  Winner- take-all system and Electoral College diminish the opportunity for 3 rd parties to win an election.

DEVELOPMENT….  Federalist: Democratic-Republicans/ Anti-Federalist  1900s political machines- gained control of local and state government  Modern: a weakening of party system gave rise to candidate-centered-politics (focus on the candidate, their particular issues, and character rather than party affiliation)

CITIZEN SUPPORT & PARTY REALIGNMENT  Party Realignment: dramatic shifts in partisan preferences that drastically alter the political landscape. - voter change parties  Critical elections: may polarize (separate) voters around new issues and personalities in reaction to crucial developments, such as a war or economic depression.  Secular Realignments-gradual rearrangement of party coalitions, based more on demographics shifts than on shocks to the political system.  Party Dealignment- weakening of partisan preferences that point to a rejection of both major parties and a rise in the number of Independents.

NATIONAL PARTY  National party organization sits at the peak of the party system in the U.S.  Function: establish a vision for partisan (biased) identifiers nationwide and to disseminate (distribute) that vision to party members and voters.  Chairperson sits at the head of the committee.  Every 4 yrs the national committee organizes a convention designed to reevaluate policies and nominate a candidate for the presidency. (see figure 12.3)  National Chairperson and National Committee

NATIONAL CONVENTION  Party meeting held in presidential election year for the purposes of nominating a presidential and vice president ticket and adopting a platform.  Nominates presidential and vice-president candidates.  The convention adopts the rules and the party platform

HOW POLITICAL PARTIES SERVE AS A LINKAGE INSTITUTION?? 1. running campaign: they poll voters to find out what issues the people are concern with, and organize campaign based on the issues 2. recruiting candidates: they choose candidates whose views they believe are in live with the public’s. If is too liberal or too conservative will likely not be nominated. 3. coordinating policy making: Political leaders in the legislative branch work to make sure their party members vote in support of their issues.

WHAT AFFECTS POLITICAL PARTIES?? -Media affects political parties in many positive and/or negative ways.

ACTIVITIES OF AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES  Rep and Dem Nat’l Committees  Parties rely on “get out the vote” GOTV on Election Day - Campaign to get people to vote (register, calling…etc)  National Party Platform: Every 4 years

DELEGATES & SUPERDELEGATES  Both parties have delegates…ONLY Democrats have Superdelegates  What is a delegate? Delegate are people who attend a political party national convention and who elect the party nominee. -Some states select delegates during a Presidential primary and others during caucuses. (most of the time this is use for Republican Party)  What is a superdelegate? The terms began in the 1970s (but official in 84’), is a leader in the National Democratic Party who has a vote at the national convention; they are not selected by state party members.  Two TYPES: Pledge & Unpledged -Unpledged: do not have to pledge to support any nominee in specific but they pledge to support the party and vote on the popular vote during state primaries - Pledged: Support a candidate after or during the primary elections.  At what point do superdelegates become a factor in deciding who wins the nomination? - For example, since Obama and Hilary Clinton were so close during 2008 primaries a superdelegate number could set a candidate over the top, getting the magic number of delegates needed to win the party's nomination.

DELEGATES & SUPERDELEGATES  Who are Superdelegates? 1.Elected members of the Democratic National Committee 2.Democratic Governors 3.Democratic U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives 4.Distinguish party leaders (Presidents / VPs/ Speaker of the House/ Former DNC chairmen)  Importance of superdelegates? If there is no clear winner after state primaries and caucuses, then the superdelegates will decide the nominee.  Democrats need 2,201 votes/ Republicans 1,575 votes.

DELEGATES & SUPERDELEGATES 

HOW PARTIES RAISE AND SPEND MONEY?? Contributions from individuals and interest groups to fund their activities. Political parties influenced office holders, and the courts to pass and permit regulation of the source and amount of money people and groups can contribute and how much they can spend. Party Expenditures coordinated expenditures: Party committees are permitted to make contributions to candidates and can spend a limited amount of money. SOFT MONEY V. HARD MONEY - Soft money not regulated by the Federal Election Committee (donations given indirectly to a candidate in a way that leaves the contribution unregulated) - Hard money- money regulated by Federal Election Committee (donations)

PARTY IDENTIFICATION Citizens’ personal affinity for a P.P. 1. Political Socialization - Parent influence!! 2. Group Affiliation: -Geographic region: South was solid Democratic, since 1944 Republicans mostly gained Congress -Gender: today 37% of woman are register as Democrat/ 25% Rep. -Race/Ethnicity: African Americans (60% Dem)/ Hispanic (Dem) with the exception of Cuban-American…why? Democrats remind them of political oppression by Fidel Castro and tend to vote Republican. -Age: Younger (Dem.)/middle-age (Rep.)/ -Social and Economic Factors: occupation, income, education IMPORTANT!/ College graduates tend to support Rep, although those with advance degree tend to support Dem as well as labor union members. -Religion: Catholics and Jewish (Rep)/ -Marital Status: married tend to vote Rep./ divorces (Dem)