1. Essential Questions What is the purpose of political parties?
What are the eras of party dominance?
What is party realignment? Why does it happen?
Why do we only have two viable parties?
Explain party organization issues.
Explain the concept & purpose of third parties.
What are the types of third parties?

2. American Political Parties

3. Definition Political Parties
A group of political activists who organize to win elections, operate the government, and determine public policy.

4. Five Functions Candidate Recruitment Organizing and Running Elections
Parties need to find viable candidates for a whole range of elected positions at the federal and state level
Obstacles to recruitment include:
time, privacy, finances, prospects
Organizing and Running Elections
Providing resources for candidates
Providing ideas for candidates

5. Presenting alternatives to the electorate
Voters need choices among candidates and among policy alternatives
Operating the government
legislative leadership positions
executive appointments
judicial appointments
Providing organized “loyal” opposition to government (minority party or parties only)
Make sure, if not in power, that party is ready for next election
leaders
issues
policies

6. History of American Party System
US developed the modern political party
US relatively unique in the world in having a 2-Party System
most of the world is multiparty (with a few uniparty systems in non-democratic states)
Founding Period
Federalists vs Antifederalists
issues
size and power of national government
base
Federalists primarily merchant/commerical/wealthy
Antifederalists primarily small farmer/craftsmen and south

7. Post Constitution/Post Washington
Federalists (Adams) v. Republicans (Jefferson)
issues:
size and power of national government
state rights
base:
Federalist: wealthy merchant and commercial interests
Republican: artisans farmers
Era of Good Feelings”
Following War of 1812, Federalists cease to be a major party at the national level, confined primarily to New England
Enter period of One Party rule
(Monroe)
Competition among individual Republican candidates, or factions within the Republican party, but not really different parties

8. Birth of the Modern Democratic Party
1824 Election the Republican Party splits, when Andrew Jackson leaves party to form own
Republicans change name to National Republicans
Jackson wing becomes the Democratic Party
This is the same Democratic Party we have today
1828 Jackson wins, National Republicans rename themselves Whigs
issues: “popular” democracy, federal power
base: Dems - rural/south, Whigs: north, urban

9. Republican Party Dominance
Birth of the Republican Party
1856 modern Republican Party forms
remnant of Whig party split, anti-slavery Democrats, and the Free Soil Party
Republican Party Dominance
From 1860 through 1932
Republicans control White House
every presidential election cycle with the exception of
Grover Cleveland ( ; )
Woodrow Wilson ( )

10. Democratic Party Dominance
From 1932 to 1968 Democrats control White House (with the exception of Dwight Eisenhower ( ) and they control Congress from 1932 to 1952
Contemporary Party
Republican or Democratic Ascendance?
1968 to 2016 Republicans control White House for all except:
Carter ( )
Clinton ( )
Obama ( )

11. party realignment
In the first party realignment period, the major issue separating the parties was federal funding.
second party realignment phase occurred in the mid-19th century. In its last election as a national party in 1856, the Whig Party received a majority of the votes in only one state.

12. party realignment, con’t
The third party realignment occurred toward the end of the 19th century with a recession. The Republican Party for the most part dominated American politics from  
The fourth party realignment was ushered in with the stock market crash of 1929, the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the election of Franklin Roosevelt as president in the 1932 election.

13. party realignment, con’t
The fifth party realignment took place during the 1960s as a result of the civil rights movement, Roe v Wade and the suburbanization of America. After the 1964 Civil Rights Act, many white, conservative Southern Democrats became Republicans. 
Recently, there have been indications of the sixth party realignment.

14. Democratic Party controls both houses of Congress from , and the House from 1955 until 1994.
Republicans control both houses of Congress from ; House from 1994 to 2006.
With 2008 Democratic control
2010, 2012 split control
2014 Republican control
2016 ????

15. Why 2 Parties? Election and Ballot Access Laws
Both major American parties have deep roots in American political culture
Election and Ballot Access Laws
State legislatures devise ballot access laws
State legislatures are dominated by the major parties
State legislatures make it difficult for minor parties to challenge the major party monopoly
Neither major party is ideologically rigid
Both Democratic and Republican parties can shift platform to accommodate new social movements
Difficult for minor parties to find any room to maneuver between the 2 major parties

16. Winner Take All vs. Proportional Representation (PR)
In PR systems, seats in the legislature are allocated to parties based on the percentage of vote they receive in the election
for example, if a party receives 15% of the votes, it would get roughly 15% of the seats in the legislature
In PR, parties do not need to “win” an election in order to have representation in the legislature
Seems to encourage multiple parties since even small parties can influence legislative process and bring some measure of “success” to its membership base
In WTA, seats are allocated according to single member districts
Parties must “win” the election in order to win a seat
Undermines minor parties since they have little to show supporters after the election

17. Party Organization
The two party model we’ve described is only partly accurate in that federalism creates something more like 52 parties with 2 common names
That is, we have two national parties (the Democratic and Republican parties) and 50 state versions of these parties

18. National State Local ward and precinct committees
national party convention
chairperson and national committee
National
state committees & conventions
congressional district com.
city & county com.
State
Local
ward and precinct committees
activists and volunteers
party voters and identifiers

19. Third Parties: “They Ain’t Got a Chance”
Ralph Nader: 2000, 2004
Ross Perot: 1992, 1996

20. Third Parties Any political party organized in at least a few states,
other than the two
current leading
parties
Jesse Ventura, Independent Governor of Minnesota,

21. History of American Third Parties
Third Parties in the U.S. receive great attention, but in fact “have not assumed the importance that all the academic attention on them suggests.”

22. History of American Third Parties
No minor third party as ever come close to winning the presidency
Only eight third party candidates have won any electoral votes
Only five, including Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 and Ross Perot in 1992 have won more than 10% of the popular vote

23. Purpose of Third Parties
Ralph Nader and the Green Party in 2000
“The electoral progress of third parties is in
direct proportion to the failure of the two
major parties to incorporate new ideas.”

24. Purpose of Third Parties
Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858
Though very rare, a third party may replace one of the major parties
1856, the Republican Party replaces the Whig Party

25. Purpose of Third Parties
Third Parties have influence
Major parties often take on the ideas of third parties
In 1992, both the Republican and Democratic Parties took on Perot’s reform government ideas about reducing the deficit
George Bush (Republican), Ross Perot (Reform), & Bill Clinton (Democrat) during 1992 Presidential debate

26. Purpose of Third Parties:
Once the major parties incorporate their ideas, third parties burn out
Populist Party platform was assimilated into the Democratic Party in 1896
William Jennings Bryan, Democratic candidate for President, 1896

27. Types of Third Parties Sectional Parties Economic Protest Parties
Example: Strom Thurmond
and the Dixiecrat Party ran on a segregationist platform in 1948
Example: James Weaver and the Populist Party won over 1 million popular votes and 22 electoral votes in 1892

28. Sectional Parties Example: Strom Thurmond
and the Dixiecrat Party ran on a segregationist platform in 1948

29. Economic Protest Parties
Example: James Weaver and the Populist Party won over 1 million popular votes and 22 electoral votes in 1892

30. Ideological Parties
Examples: Socialist, Communist, and Libertarian Parties
Charismatic Personality
Parties
Example: Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Bull Moose Party in 1912

31. Ideology Parties
Examples: Socialist, Communist, and Libertarian Parties
Libertarian Party 2000 campaign ad

32. Charismatic Personality Parties
Example: Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Bull Moose Party in 1912

33. Specific Issue Parties
Example: Prohibition Party in 1892
Combination Parties
Example: George Wallace in 1968 (American Independent Party)
Dynamic leader with a Southern base
Anti-civil rights
Won 13% popular vote & 46 electoral votes

34. Specific Issue Parties
Example: Prohibition Party in 1892

35. Combination Parties
Example: George Wallace in 1968 (American Independent Party)
Dynamic leader with a Southern base
Anti-civil rights
Won 13% popular vote & 46 electoral votes

36. What do shooting stars and third parties have in common?

37. George Wallace, American Independent Party, 1968 Election

38. Ross Perot, 1996 http://www.bartcop.com

39. Ralph Nader, 2000 Election

40. Nader & the Reform Party 2004

41. Ralph Nader Math Problem 2004 Presidential Election

43. Essential Questions What is the purpose of political parties?
What are the eras of party dominance?
What is party realignment? Why does it happen?
Why do we only have two viable parties?
Explain party organization issues.
Explain the concept & purpose of third parties.
What are the types of third parties?