 A team of people seeking to control government by winning elected office.

 Party as Organization  Office seekers  Benefit seekers  Party in the Electorate  Democrats, Republicans, and Independents  Party in Government  Party caucuses/conferences/Divided & unified government

 Make legislating easier  Mobilize voters/Simplify voter decision- making  Regulate politicians’ ambition  Enforce collective responsibility

 Can magnify and harden conflicts  Can oversimplify issues  Can seem to relieve citizens of hard work of self-education

 Parties as legislative coalitions  The golden age of parties  Declining parties/Rise of candidates  Era of weak parties  Homogeneous but diffuse parties …

 Federalists and Anti-Federalists in the first Congresses

 Spoils system  No secret ballot  Politics as entertainment  Grass roots parties  High voter turnout

 Australian ballot, secret ballot  Civil service reforms  Primary elections  Direct election of senators  Nonpartisan local elections  New Deal welfare state  More candidate-centered campaigns

 TV  Campaign finance  Candidate centered elections  Rise in number of “independents”  Split ticket voting  Deep ideological divisions within parties  (Particularly the Democratic party!)  Weak party discipline in Congress

 Ideological realignment & polarization  Strong party discipline in Congress  Highly partisan, competitive presidential elections  Increased turnout  Parties act in coalitional environment

Democrats to the LEFT Republicans to the RIGHT