AP Government Chapter 8

soft money

amendments to the FECA passed in 1979 allowed unlimited contribution to political parties for party building, voter registration, and voter turnout

caucus

face to face meeting in which rank and file party members discuss and vote on candidates to stand for election to offices under the party label at a later general election

Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA)

Campaign reform legislation passed in 1971, with major amendments in 1974 and later, that required disclosure and set limits on campaign contributions and provided public funding of presidential elections

who chooses to run for political office, and how do they organize their campaigns?

Candidates for public office are ambitious. Political parties are vital to the success of any candidate in a national election because of the need to raise money. Consequently, a viable candidate will coordinate his or her campaign with a political party and assemble a professional staff including policy advisors, campaign managers, media consultants, and pollsters. These individuals comprise the candidate's campaign team.

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA)

Commonly known as McCain-Feingold, the 200 act was the first major revision of campaign finance laws since the early 1970s.

Why do so many Americans fail to vote even in important elections like those for Congress, governor, or president?

Compared to other industrialized nations, the United States has very low voter turnout. In the late 1700s, only white males who owned property were able to vote. Suffrage was expanded to all white males with the assistance of the Jacksonian Democrats in the late 1820s. During the nineteenth century, the number of eligible voters increased with passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870 that extended the right to vote to black men. In turn, voter turnout was extremely high in the 1870s and 1880s reaching 80 percent in the 1876 election. The ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment doubled the size of the electorate, but voter turnout actually declined in the decade following the expansion of suffrage to women in 1920. Generally, low voter turnout is attributed to the American system of registering voters, which may be complicated and burdensome. Thus, voter turnout is suppressed by institutional factors (rules, procedures) that make the cost of voting high. Yet, there are other variables explaining lower turnout including access to information, levels of education, socio-economic factors, age, and decreasing social capital in American society.

primary

a preliminary election in which voters select candidates to stand under their party label in a later and definitive general election

How does the campaign for the presidency differ from campaigns for other offices that are less visible, powerful, and prestigious?

In order to run a successful presidential campaign, candidates must establish a national political organization at least two years before the actual election. This period of campaigning is called the invisible campaign because successful candidates must raise large amounts of money early and develop a strategy for winning. The presidential selection process of national primaries and caucuses requires a well-funded, well-organized political campaign. The national primary system is becoming increasingly front-loaded, meaning that primaries and caucuses early in the campaign season will determine a front-runner and well-funded candidates have a decided advantage to advertise and get out the vote to receive the necessary support to continue campaigning for the party's nomination. The candidate must be able to run a national campaign that involves facets of local elections (get out the vote drives, neighborhood canvassing, pressing the flesh) and simultaneously appeal to national audiences for funding and political endorsements. Winning primaries and caucuses increases support by attracting voters (the bandwagon effect) and by eliminating intra-party competitors to position the candidate to receive his or her party's nomination in the national conventions held in late summer prior to the November general election. During the nationally televised conventions, both major parties have the opportunity to showcase their presidential nominees and party platforms.

Does money dominate presidential elections?

Money plays a huge role in presidential elections but does not assure victory. In a sense, funding allows you to enter and compete within an election. The influence money has on political campaigns prompted Congress to pass the Federal Elections and Campaign Act (FECA) in 1971 establishing limits on how much individuals could contribute to political campaigns and required the disclosure of large contributions. Moreover, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) was established to enforce and punish candidates who do not abide by these campaign laws. Yet, even with reforms and amendments to FECA restricting the amount individuals and organizations may contribute to political campaigns, money dominates presidential elections. Soft money, issue advocacy advertisements, bundling, and free speech issues have prevented effective campaign finance reform. Moreover, as the 2004 election demonstrates, personal income allows candidates a sizable advantage to self-finance campaigns that are not subject to the limits imposed by FECA.

Motor Voter

Popular name for the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The act permits people to register to vote while they are doing other common tasks like getting or renewing their driver licenses.

How do those who do vote decide which of the parties and candidates to vote for?

Primarily, voters identify with a political party and vote for candidates who run under that party label. These voters behave as strong partisans and are referred to as the party base or party faithful. However, given the contemporary candidate-centered campaigns, voters are slowly becoming less attached to political parties and more apt to vote for a candidate based upon his image, personality traits, perceived competence, and positions on a particular issue or set of issues. Voters may be divided into two groups: sophisticated and unsophisticated voters. Sophisticated voters are individuals who cast their vote based upon an understanding of the issues, knowledge of the political system, and are able to differentiate the candidates' stances on the salient issues. Conversely, unsophisticated voters tend to vote based upon their perceptions of the candidates, which is not buttressed upon political knowledge. Inevitably, most voters are unable to understand the details of every issue and must rely upon voting cues or heuristics that provide inexpensive yet reliable shortcuts to access political information. Some voting shortcuts include party identification, political endorsements, ideological schemas, polling data, campaign platforms, and the appearance of the candidates

McConnell vs. F.E.C.

The Supreme Court upheld all major elements of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, including those permitting regulation of soft money and issue ads

general election

a final or definitive election in which candidates representing their respective parties contend for election to office

ready response team

a group within a campaign staff that is assigned to respond immediately to any charge or negative comment made by the opposition or the media

micro targeting

campaign consultants analyze dozens of pieces of demographic, political, and consumer data to determine what issues, themes, and arguments are likely to move a voter or group of similar voters toward a candidate

suffrage

legal right to vote

national party convention

the Democratic and Republican parties meet in national convention every four years. in the summer, just prior to the presidential election, to choose a presidential candidate and adopt a party platform

frontloading

the crowding of presidential primaries and caucuses into early weeks of the nomination period

voter turnout

the portion of the voting age population that actually turns up to vote on election day

voter registration

the process by which members of the voting age population sign up to establish their right to cast a ballot on election day