BELLWORK Caption Question on page 477

Homework for this week Chapter 17 Assessment: 1-16, Pages Due Friday

TAKE NOTES OF ANYTHING IN: BLACK

Election Campaign s CHAPTER 17, SECTION 1 Essential Question: What are the elements of a presidential campaign?

How to become president!

How to get elected! In the last chapter we learned how to get nominated by a major party in order to run for president. In this chapter we are going to learn about the steps these candidates take in order to win the presidency. Elections occur all the time. Local and state elections occur most frequently. National elections occur every 2 years, of which senators and representatives are voted into office. Presidential elections occur every 4 years and receive the most attention from the media and public. In order to win these elections, politicians go to great lengths to get votes, a process we call an election campaign. Candidates will do anything and everything to win, even spend hundreds of millions of dollars.

Electing the President Soon after the parties announce there presidential candidates the national conventions in late-summer, campaigning becomes more and more intense until election day which is always held the Tuesday after the first Monday of November. In order to be elected president, a candidate must win 270 out of the 538 electoral votes. 538 is the number of representatives and senators from all the states and D.C. The larger a population, the more electoral votes a state has, therefore candidates pay special attention to highly populated states.

Campaign Strategy Some of the many decisions a campaign must face are; Should the candidate wage an aggressive, all-out attack on an opponent, or would a low-key campaign be a better strategy? What theme should the campaign strike? What slogan will catch people’s attention? Which issues should be stressed? Usually the one faced with these decisions is the campaign manager; the person responsible for the overall strategy and planning of a campaign. The position deals with relations with television, radio, social media, and the print media, as will as managing finances, advertising, opinion polls, and campaign materials.

Quick Write Candidates who run on a single issue or appeal only to a certain region find it difficult to win. In 2011, when trying to win the Republican Nomination, Rick Perry released the following video: Which groups of Americans do you think Perry was trying to gain support from with this ad? Which groups of Americans do you think he upset with this ad? Was this ad successful?

Campaign Strategy (Continued) Currently, the must important communication tool for a campaign is television. However, as technology evolves, more people are turning to the internet and using resources like social media and video streaming services, because of this, many campaigns are starting to focus more and more on it. Political commercials are one of the possibilities that television and the internet offer for a candidate to shape his or her image to voters. Debates are another important, broadcasted on television and the internet, debates have a huge impact on the way undecided voters will vote.

Financing Campaigns The single most important thing for winning an election is money. In 2008, John McCain raised nearly 400 million dollars, while Obama raised nearly 800 million. In 2012, Barack Obama raised nearly 1.1 billion dollars and his component, Mitt Romney raised just under 1 billion. This is almost double the total amount of money from Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 was designed to regulate campaign spending. The law requires public disclosure of each candidate’s spending, provide federal funding for presidential elections, prohibit labor unions and business organizations from making direct contributions, and limit how much individuals and groups can contribute.

What is a Super PAC?

What is a Super PAC? (Continued) A super PAC is a new breed of PAC that was born after the Supreme Court decisions of Citizen United v. Federal Election Commission and SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission. The Supreme Court ruled it was a violation of the First Amendment to put limitations on corporations and the amount of money they contribute. A super PAC is allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions, individuals and associations. They are limited in the sense that they can not directly contribute to a campaign but they get around this by bashing candidates that they do not want. They advocate for the election or defeat of candidates by purchasing television, radio, internet, or print advertisements.

Closing Activity: Quick Write Are super PACs damaging to democracy? Or should they continue to be protected by our First Amendment? Could this money be better spent elsewhere?