1. Political Parties

2. What is a Political Party? Group that seeks to elect governmental officials under a given label The primary goal of a political party is to win control of government

3. Roles of political parties Electioneering Nominate candidates Simplify voting choices Serve as voting and issue cue Provide stability and policy direction “big tents” Coordinate actions of government officials Propose and pass programs

4. Why does America have a two-party system? single-member districts instead of proportional representation Ballot obstacles and funding challenges Lack of media attention political socialization and dualist theory absorption of third party issuesthird party

5. Nader campaign 2004

6. Nader faced numerous lawsuits about ballot accessaccess

7. Campaign spending Expensive presidential campaign Expensive Incumbent v. challenger spending in Wisconsin (finances)finances Incumbent advantage overall in 20042004

8. Three faces of political parties Party in government Party in the electorate Party organization

9. Party in government party structures the operation of government Congressional leaders are chosen on the basis of the controlling party reason--set the agenda for what government will do

10. HouseSenate 435 Members 100 Senators (Vice President votes in case of a tie) 229 Republicans 205 Democrats 1 Independent 51 Republicans 48 Democrats 1 Independent 108 th Congress

11. HouseSenate 435 Members 100 Senators (Vice President votes in case of a tie) 232 Republicans 201 Democrats 1 Independent Republicans up by 3 55 Republicans 44 Democrats 1 Independent Republicans up by 4 109 th Congress

12. House of Representatives House tends to be more partisan Dennis Hastert (Speaker) Nancy PelosiPelosi

13. Senate Bill Frist, Senate Majority Leader Who is the Senate Minority Leader? Leadership of congressional committees goes to the majority partyparty

14. Changes in the Senate 2001: 50-50 split— which party had control? Committee members were equally divided between parties 2002: Jeffords leaves the Republican Party

15. Party unity Political parties hold members accountable for voting party will Trends in congressional voting Figure 12.3 (455) Republican split with president? Ability of parties to raise fundsfunds

16. Party in the electorate Party identification: person’s affinity for a party, usually resulting in voting for party’s candidates Roughly split between Republicans, Democrats and Independents

17. Split-ticket voting voter chooses candidates from different parties May lead to divided government

18. candidate, issue or party centered voting Vast majority of Americans insist they vote for “the person, not the party” What are the benefits/weaknesses of each type?

19. Optional writing assignment visit the websites of the Republican and the Democratic National Committees (http://www.rnc.org and http://www.democrats.org/) and answer the following: what is the focus for each party? Which site do you prefer, and why? Which party (if either) do you agree with, and why?http://www.rnc.org http://www.democrats.org/ Due Tuesday, March 8

20. Judicial assignment Supreme Court decisions that are on the docket (www.oyez.org)www.oyez.org Choose a case, choose a justice, predict or describe opinion What happened this weekweek

21. Listen to the Newshour reports What was the decision in the juvenile death penalty case? What were the issues in the Ten Commandments cases? Which justices were identified as important? How do you think these cases will be decided?

22. Political parties (review) Party in government Ability of party to control leadership positions Party unity Party in the electorate Extent people identify with one party Party as voting cue (candidate, issue or party centered voting)

23. Democratic party regroups New chair of the Democratic National Committee What does each speaker (Elaine Kamarck, Jesse Jackson, Sen. John Breaux, Rep. Tim Ryan) say went wrong? wrong

24. Party unity Political parties hold members accountable for voting party will Trends in congressional voting indicate unity is increasing. Why? Ability of parties to raise fundsfunds

25. However, Congress represents US! What happens when local and party interests conflict?

26. Party organization Republican and Democratic national party committees (national conventions) State-level committees State-levelcommittees County-level organizations County-levelorganizations

27. Parties appeal directly to voters DNC RNC Do these appeals go too far?

28. Responsible party model Parties are distinct, with clear platforms People vote according to party Elected officials follow party wishes Party holds elected officials using label accountable To what extent does this model describe political parties today?

29. Redistricting and parties 2000 census requires redistricting Power of parties: state legislatures/governors