Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Longman PoliticalScienceInteractive Magleby & Light Government by the People Chapter 8 Campaigns and Elections

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Elections: The Rules of the Game Elections are held at fixed intervals that cannot be changed by the party in power Terms are fixed and, for some offices, staggered

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Running For President Stage 1: The Nomination Campaigning begins well before any declaration of candidacy, as candidates try to: –Line up supporters to win caucuses or primaries in key states (New Hampshire and Iowa) –Raise money for their nomination effort –Mobilize "activist" base of supporters

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Running For President Stage 1: The Nomination Primaries –Beauty contest –Actual voting (caucuses and state primaries) –"Frontloading" –"Super Tuesday" –Systems Proportional representation Winner takes all Delegate selection without a commitment to a candidate (super delegates) Caucuses and conventions

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman The Presidential Campaign: Typical Campaign Organization

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Selecting a theme Negative Campaigning Using focus groups and polling News management Paid advertising Seeking free airtime Campaign Strategies

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Running For President Stage 2: The National Party Convention National Party Convention A national meeting of delegates elected in primaries, caucuses, or state conventions who assemble once every four years to nominate candidates for president and vice president, ratify the party platform, elect officers, and adopt rules

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman The Vice Presidential Nominee Presidential candidates usually submit their choice for vice president in the run- up to the party’s national convention Goal is often to "balance the ticket"

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Running For President Stage 3: The General Election - Debates - TV and Radio Advertising - Candidates "move to the center" to attract more votes

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman The Electoral College Why it exists: –The framers did not trust the choice of president to a direct vote of the people How it works: –Each state legislature is free to determine how to select its electors –Each party nominates a slate of electors, usually longtime party workers –In 48 states, candidates who win a plurality of the popular vote secure all of that state’s electoral votes –In NB and ME, electoral votes are allocated to the winner of each congressional district plus two electoral votes for the winner of the state as a whole –Candidates tend to campaign in large, competitive ("swing") states

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman The Electoral College 270 electoral votes needed to win If no candidate gets a majority of the electoral votes, the House chooses among the top three candidates –Occurred in 1800 and 1824 Makes it possible for a presidential candidate to win the popular vote but lose the electoral vote –Occurred in 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman The Electoral College

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Reforming the Electoral College Give every voter the same weight in presidential balloting Winners would have greater legitimacy Third parties would have more incentive to run Plan would undermine federalism Unrestrained majority rule Populous states would lose influence Should we use a direct popular election instead of the electoral college? Pros Cons

The Gerrymander Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman

Packing Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman

Cracking Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman

Democrats Gerrymander... Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman

...and so do Republicans Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman

"Earmuff" district in Illinois Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman

Shaw v. Reno (re-drawn) Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman

Four ways to draw districts Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman

Safe and Competitive House Seats,

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman U.S. House Incumbents Reelected

Incumbency Advantage franking privilege (free mail) staff in place committee service to district name recognition casework done for constituents pork barrel projects for district "war chest" built up already flow of money gerrymandered districts (safe seats) Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman

Primary Elections Caucus Closed Open Blanket Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman

The House of Representatives Mounting a primary campaign –Raising money –Building a personal organization –Appealing to the "base" or activists Campaigning for the general election –Candidate appeal –National tide –Name recognition –Appealing to the center or mainstream

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman The Senate Costs more than House races, but cost varies by state More likely than House seats to be seriously contested

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Effects of a Winner-Takes-All, Single-Member District System Wasted-vote syndrome Reinforcement of moderate and centrist candidates Difficult for minor parties to get elected Close races decided by swing voters Gerrymandered districts

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Proportional Representation An election system in which each party running receives the proportion of legislative seats corresponding to its proportion of the vote Benefits: –More accurately reveals the division of voter preferences –Gives those who do not vote with the plurality some influence as a result of their vote Problems: –May make it harder to have a clear winner

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Money in U.S. Elections Watergate The 1972 Watergate scandal led to the discovery that large amounts of money from corporations and individuals were “laundered” in secret bank accounts outside the country and used by Nixon’s campaign for political and campaign uses

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Rising Campaign Costs in Congressional General Elections

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Efforts at Reform Three strategies used to prevent abuse in political contributions 1. Imposing limitations on giving, receiving, and spending political money 2. Disclosure laws 3. Governmental subsidies

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman The Federal Election Campaign Act Serious campaign finance reform began in the 1970s with the Federal Election Campaign Act (1971 and 1974) Buckley v. Valeo (1976) challenged the constitutionality of campaign finance limits – individual donations can be limited (chance of corruption) – overall spending cannot be limited (free speech) Now, politicians must get small amounts of money from many sources, with an exception for “soft” money

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Soft Money Money donated to a political party, not a candidate Between 1998 and 2002, soft money contributions more than doubled Soft money enabled large donors to be major players in campaign finance Mostly banned by BCRA

PACs Defined under FECA Political Action Committees Collects campaign contributions from members and distributes them to favored candidates May donate $5,000 per candidate per election or $15,000 to party May make unlimited independent expenditures Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman

The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act - BCRA (2002) Largely banned party soft money Restored prohibition on corporations and labor unions for using general treasury funds for electoral purposes Prohibited all corporations, both for-profit and not-for-profit, and unions from broadcasting “electioneering communications” within 60 days of a general election (struck down in 2010 by Citizens United v. FEC) Senators John McCain (R-Ariz) and Russell Feingold (D-Wisc), sponsors of the BCRA

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Independent Expenditures Defined as speech that expressly advocates the election or defeat of a candidate. Buckley v. Valeo (1976): –Individuals/groups have “First Amendment” right to spend as much money as they wish BCRA Restrictions: –Must be truly independent of the candidate –May not use corporate or union money (ruled invalid by Citizens United case)

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Issue Advocacy Advertising Promoting/attacking candidates without explicitly saying “vote for” or “vote against” Surged in 1996 Sometimes have spent more than the candidates did themselves Often called 527 organizations Often more negative than the ads run by candidates Not banned by BCRA

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Super PACs Resulted from Citizens United ruling Officially known as "independent- expenditure only committees" May not make contributions to a candidate's campaign or parties May engage in unlimited political spending independent of a candidate Individuals, unions and corporations may contribute to Super PACs

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Continuing Problems with Campaign Finance Rising costs of campaigns Declining competition Increasing dependence on PACs and wealthy donors Candidates’ personal wealth Growth in individual contributions, Super PACs and use of the Internet to fund campaigns