1. American Government and Politics Today
Chapter 9
Campaigns, Nominations,
and Elections

2. How are candidates Nominated
Self-announcement (oldest form)
Caucuses
Conventions
Primaries

3. Nomination Game 9.1 Competing for Delegates Convention Send-Off
Earning a party’s nomination for office requires money, media attention, and momentum. Candidates must develop a smart campaign strategy to have a hope of winning their party’s nomination.
A campaign is a test of endurance and energy, of living with sleep deprivation, junk food, lack of exercise, and no life outside the campaign for year after year. In contrast, campaigns in other wealthy democracies usually last no more than two months.

4. Competing for Delegates
9.1
Competing for Delegates
National party convention
State delegates meet and vote on nominee
Nomination process more democratic today
McGovern-Fraser Commission
Before candidates for each party can campaign against each other in a general election, they must compete against other potential nominees in their party’s primary elections. These elections are held to determine delegates for each candidate. The delegates assemble at the national party convention and the winner is known before they arrive, based on the primary election results.
It was progressive reformers in the early twentieth century who wrenched the nominating process from the hands of party bosses and gave that power to the party membership as a whole.
But the parties were slow to implement democratic reforms in their nominating processes until the riots at the Democratic national convention in 1968, when party leaders could no longer ignore the fact that delegate selection effectively excluded women, minorities, youth, the poor, and other groups who were not represented in party leadership.
The McGovern-Fraser Commission implemented reforms in the Democratic Party’s delegate selection process that encouraged the Republican Party and the states to move to primary elections.

5. 9.1 Riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention
Riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention led to the establishment of more open procedures for delegate selection. These reforms have made recent party conventions more representative of party membership diversity.

6. Competing for Delegates
9.1
Competing for Delegates
National party convention
Superdelegates
One vestige of party leadership control is the superdelegate. Superdelegates are people who are awarded automatic slots as delegates because they are a member of Congress or their party’s national committee. Their job is to balance the tendencies of the more partisan party electorate and ensure that an electable candidate is given the nomination.

7. Competing for Delegates
9.1
Competing for Delegates
Invisible primary
Woo support out of the public eye
Craft positive personal image
Distinguish themselves from other candidates
Seek media attention but avoid blunders
Long before any primary votes are cast, potential nominees are hard at work wooing support from elected officials (most importantly, governors and members of Congress), top fundraisers, and skilled political aides. Since this garnering of key endorsements takes place out of the public eye, it’s known as the invisible primary.
Candidates from the same party try to distinguish themselves from one another by crafting a positive personal image that highlights their qualifications and character. They seek media attention but try to avoid blunders that will deflate their campaign.

8. 9.1 2012 Republican primary debate
Televised debates are a regular feature of the presidential nomination process. The Republican candidates for the 2012 nomination participated in 27 debates. Here, Texas Governor Rick Perry is shown making a point while Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum look on.

9. Competing for Delegates
9.1
Competing for Delegates
Caucuses and primaries
Iowa caucus
New Hampshire primary
Proportional versus winner-take-all primaries
Most states hold primary elections, but a few hold caucuses, which are meetings where citizens discuss and vote on a nominee. Caucuses require more effort, so voter participation is lower and reflects more intense feelings. Iowa is the first state to hold its caucus, which gives it media attention disproportionate to its size.
New Hampshire is the first state to hold a presidential primary election, which, like the Iowa caucuses, attracts intense media attention. Although the winners in Iowa and New Hampshire don’t always stay the frontrunners, winning these early primaries gives a campaign visibility and momentum that attracts donors and supporters.
Candidates who do poorly in early primaries are often forced to drop out of the race due to lack of campaign funding. Some states designate all of their delegates for the winning candidate; others apportion them according to the percentage of the vote. 9

10. Competing for Delegates
9.1
Competing for Delegates
Evaluating the primary and caucus system
Disproportionate attention goes to early caucuses and primaries
The primary and caucus systems brought welcome democratic reforms to the nominee selection process, but they have developed problems of their own. For starters, the candidates devote a disproportionate amount of attention to early primary and caucus states, even though the number of delegates at stake is small.

11. 9.1
FIGURE 9.1: A count of Clinton and Obama events during the 2008 nomination campaign
The attention that candidates pay to early primary and caucus states is far more than the number of delegates at stake would otherwise warrant.

12. Competing for Delegates
9.1
Competing for Delegates
Evaluating the primary and caucus system
Prominent politicians find it difficult to take time out from their duties to run
Money plays too big a role in the caucuses and primaries
Participation in primaries and caucuses is low and unrepresentative
System gives too much power to the media
Since campaigning is a full-time job, officials running for reelection often neglect their duties. In fact, legislators are often absent for crucial votes because they’re out on the campaign trail.
Most Americans think that money plays too large a role in political campaigns. Voters in primaries and caucuses tend to be unrepresentative of party membership, and of the electorate as a whole. Only about 25% of eligible voters cast ballots in primary elections, and about 5% participate in caucuses. Finally, the primary system gives tremendous power to the media. They get to be kingmakers by designating a candidate as the likely winner.

13. Convention Send-Off 9.1 Winner foregone conclusion Party infomercial
Reduced TV coverage
Party infomercial
Carefully scripted
Party platform
Policy goals for next four years
There is no drama in today’s party conventions because the winner is known beforehand. As a result, television news coverage has been reduced and ratings have fallen. Only 30 million people tuned into Romney’s acceptance speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention, while 111 million watched the Giants defeat the Patriots earlier that year.
Today’s conventions are carefully scripted infomercials for the party, designed to get delegates and viewers energized to help the campaign.
The party’s platform used to be debated at the convention, but parties are leery of showing any internal dissent. For that reason, the platform is now agreed behind the scenes and simply unveiled at the convention.
The convention ends with the nominee announcing his vice-presidential pick, followed by acceptance speeches from both nominees. The general election campaign is then officially under way.

14. Who Wants to be a Candidate?
There are two categories of individuals who run for office—the self-starters and those who are recruited by the party
The nomination process
Who is eligible?
Who runs?
Women as candidates
Lawyers as candidates

15. 9
Video: The Basics
Do you have trouble figuring out when all the elections are and who you should vote for? If you do, you’re not alone. This video will help you understand why the United States has so many types of elections, what purposes they serve, and whether money and campaign staff is vital to campaign victories.

16. Group Questions Group 1: Group 2: Group 3: Group 4: Hatch Act
Provisions
Opinion & Challenges
FECA (1971)
Challenges
Group 2:
Reforms to FECA (1974)
Opinion
Group 3:
Buckley v. Valeo: case & ruling
527s: What are they? Why did they arise? Examples
Group 4:
Bipartisan Campaign Reform (McCain/Feingold) 2002

17. Regulations on Independent Political Expenditures
9.3
Regulations on Independent Political Expenditures
527 groups
New route for soft money
Independent expenditures
Endorsements forbidden
Citizens United v. FEC (2010)
501(c) groups
Super PACs
From the donor’s perspective, there remained one problem with the unlimited spending they could do with 527 groups: it still had to be reported. So they created another loophole: If they set up a 501(c) group instead of a 527 group, they didn’t have to publicly disclose the names of donors or amount of donations.
The Citizens United ruling led to the creation of new interest groups dubbed Super PACs because of the immense amounts of money they can spend provided that it’s in the form of independent expenditures.

18. Are Campaigns Too Expensive?
9.3
Are Campaigns Too Expensive?
Yes
2008 federal elections cost $5 billion
Fundraising distracts from official duties No
Only .05% of GDP spent on elections
About the cost of one DVD per person
How to reform system?
Most people are appalled by the cost of U.S. elections. The 2008 federal elections cost $5 billion. Incumbents must spend so much of their time fundraising, they’re distracted from doing their jobs. But a minority of Americans point out that the cost of elections is actually quite small when you look at it as a portion of GDP or average it out per person.
But reforms are not easy in the wake of the Citizens United decision that equates campaign spending with speech. This decision makes most restrictions on campaign financing unconstitutional. Also, incumbents are unlikely to give up their fundraising advantage.

19. Financing the Campaign
Regulating Campaign Financing
Hatch Act (1925)-Civil Servants; groups
Federal Election Campaign Act (1971)

20. Primary Elections Types of Primaries
Closed, open, runoff
Front-Loading the Primaries. Each state determines the date for its primary or caucus
Because early primaries are more influential, states have competed to schedule their primaries as early as possible
By choosing the nominees so early, there is a long lull in the news between the primaries and the national conventions.

21. The National Convention
Seating the Delegates.
A credentials committee approves all delegates. This is usually not controversial but there have been disputed delegations in the past.
Convention Activities
The highlight of the convention is the nomination of the presidential candidate. Because the identity of the nominee is a foregone conclusion, the TV networks have drastically curtailed their coverage of the conventions in recent years.

22. The Electoral College The Choice of Electors The Electors’ Commitment
Criticisms of the Electoral College
Support of Electoral College

24. How Are Elections Conducted?
Ballots
Office-block ballot groups candidates for elective office together under the title of the office
States that use the party-column ballot list candidates in columns arranged by political parties
Voting by Mail

25. How Are Elections Conducted?
Voter Fraud
Failure to purge the electoral rolls of voters who have died or moved opens up possibilities of fraud.
Mistakes by Voting Officials. In some locales voting officials have purged many legitimate voters from the rolls by mistake.

26. Voter Turnout
Voter participation in the United States is low compared with other countries. In congressional elections in years when a president is not elected, the turnout rates are lower. Turnout rates are even lower yet for most local elections.
The Effect of Low Voter Turnout
Is Voter Turnout Declining? Why?

27. Factors Influencing Who Votes
Age
Education
Minority status
Income
Party competition

29. Factors Influencing Who Votes

30. Financing the Campaign (cont.)
1974 Reforms
Created the Federal Election Commission
Provided for public funding of presidential primaries and general elections
Limited presidential campaign spending for those who accept public funding
Placed limitations on contributions
Required disclosure of the source of contributions and what the expenditures were for

31. Financing the Campaign (cont.)
Buckley v. Valeo. The 1971 act had placed limits on how much money a candidate could spend on his or her own campaign. In 1976, the Supreme Court ruled that this provision was unconstitutional.
Interest Groups and Campaign Money
PACs and Political Campaigns
Campaign Financing Beyond the Limits

34. The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002
Banned soft money contributions to the national party committees. It also placed limitations on issue advocacy advertisements and increased the individual contribution limit to $2000 (from $1000).
Will hurt the ability of the political parties to help the candidates running on the party label. This could lead to less cohesiveness within the parties.
May help incumbents, who are less likely to need soft money contributions and issue advocacy ads.

35. Outcomes of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act
Challenges to the 2002 Act
The Rise of the 527s

37. Why People Do Not Vote
Uninformative media coverage and negative campaigning
The rational ignorance effect
Plans for improved voter turnout