Transcript elections, campaigns

NOMINATIONS,
CAMPAIGNS, AND
ELECTIONS
“Throwing Your Hat in the Ring”
Election Process
• Time between a candidate’s announcement that he or
she is running to the actual convention, could easily be
two years from start to finish.
• “Invisible primary” – period between a candidate’s
announcement that he or she is running for president
and the day the first primary votes are cast
• After the candidate declares, the candidate starts
building an organization, actively seeking funds-current
start up fee for presidential races estimated at $100
million
Election Process
• Before first primary or caucus, candidate vies for
endorsements from party leaders and attempts to
raise public’s interest by visiting key states with early
primaries (Iowa & New Hampshire).
• Debates are held among the candidates and political
ads are shown in the early primary states.
• Early front runners are normally candidates that raise
the most money.
Election Process
• Second stage of the campaign is the primary
season.
• As early as February and March (before election)
key regional primaries are held on “Super Tuesday.”
• After Super Tuesday, one candidate usually has
enough delegates pledged to him that he becomes
presumptive nominee (not in 2008 when Democrat
candidates fought until the last primary was
completed).
Election Process
• Third stage of the campaign takes place between the time
both parties have a presumptive candidate and the
conventions where the candidates are officially nominated.
• Fourth stage of the campaign is the nominating convention
held by each party.
• Traditionally, the party out of power holds its convention first.
Conventions are highly scripted, pep rallies for the party’s
base.
• Key components: adoption of party platform, keynote speech,
nominating speeches, and the acceptance speeches of the
vice presidential and presidential candidates.
Election Process
• Election campaign seems like a 100-yard dash
compared to the nominating process.
• Even though there are similarities to the
campaign for nomination in terms of organization
and strategy, once the candidate has the official
party designation, the fall campaign turns into a
fight for the finish.
Primaries
• First step on the road to the White House is
the caucus and primary process.
• Winning delegate support takes place as a
result of a high-tech campaign to convince
party regulars that a particular candidate is
best suited to run the country.
Primaries and Caucuses Continued
• Today, most of the delegates to the national
conventions are selected in presidential
primaries, in which voters in a state go to the
polls and vote for a candidate.
• States selected their delegates to the national
convention in a meeting of state party leaders
(caucus), but today caucuses are open to all
voters who are registered within the party.
Criticisms of primaries and caucuses
• Disproportionate amount of attention goes to the early caucuses
and primaries.
• Running for president has become a full-time job.
• Money plays too big a role in the caucuses and primaries
• Participation is low and is not representative of the voting
population.
• Primaries and caucuses exaggerate regional factors
• System gives too much power to the media.
National and Regional Primaries
• Proponents of a national primary to select party
nominees believe that this would bring directness
and simplicity to the process.
• Critics of a national primary believe it would
require a runoff election between the two top
finishers. Big money and media attention would
become more crucial.
National and Regional Primaries
• Regional primaries would have groups of
states that would vote one week, then
another the following week, and so on.
• Major problem with regional primary
proposal is the advantage gained by
whichever region goes first.
Assignment
• Read Lanahan Reader pg. 496 and answer hand out
questions.
• In a short paragraph, give your opinion on the following
statement:
“Reformers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries held
that the solution to democratic problems was more
democracy…. In principle, more democracy always sounds
better than less, but it is not such a simple issue in
practice.”
Campaign Game
• Campaigning today is heavily dependent on
technology.
• Television is the most prevalent means used by
candidates to reach voters (but focuses on who’s
winning rather than policy issues).
• Computer technology targets mailings to
prospective supporters.
Campaign Game
• Once nominated, candidates concentrate
on campaigning for the general election.
• Three ingredients are needed to project
right image to voters: high-tech media
campaign, organization, and money.
Campaign Game
• To effectively organize their campaigns, candidates must
succeed in key areas:
1.) get a campaign manager
2.) get a fund-raiser
3.) get a campaign counsel
4.) hire media and campaign consultants
5.) assemble a campaign staff
6.) plan the logistics
7.) hire a pollster
8.) get a research staff and policy advisers
9.) get a good press secretary
10.) establish a web site
Money in Campaigns
• Campaigns are EXPENSIVE, and they are growing more
so in America’s high-tech political arena.
• Congress passed the Federal Election Campaign Act in
1974 with the goals of tightening reporting requirements
for contributions and limiteing overall expenditures.
• 1972: Watergate and illegal donations from corporation,
unions, and individuals catalyzed change
• Brought about the 1974 federal campaign reform law and
Federal Election Commission (FEC)
Raising Money
• Individuals can give $2,000; PACs can give
$5,000 in each election to each candidate
• Candidates must raise $5,000 in twenty
states in individual contributions of $250 or
less to qualify for federal matching grants to
pay for primary campaigns
Problems with Campaign Financing
• Independent expenditures: an
organization or PAC can spend as much as
it wishes on advertising, so long as it is not
coordinated with a candidate’s campaign
• Soft money: unlimited amounts of money
may be given to a political party, so long as
a candidate is not named
Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act
• Banned soft money contributions to
national parties from corporations and
unions after the 2002 election
• Raised the limit on individual donations to
$2,000 per candidate per election
Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act
• Sharply restricted independent
expenditures
• Corporations, unions, trade associations,
nonprofit organizations cannot use their
own money for an advertisement referring
to a candidate by name 30 days before a
primary and 60 days before a general
election
527 Organizations
• A new source of money under the
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act
• Designed to permit the kind of soft money
expenditures once made by political parties
• They can spend their money on politics so
long as they do not coordinate with a
candidate or lobby directly for that person
Money and Winning
• Presidential candidates have similar funds
because of federal funding
• During peacetime, presidential elections
are usually decided on the basis of three
factors:
• Political party affiliation
• The economy
• Character
The Economy and Vote for President,
1948-2004
Updated from Robert S. Erikson and Kent L. Tedin, American Public Opinion, 5th ed., p. 271.
Copyright © 1995 by Allyn & Bacon/Longman. Reprinted by permission of Pearson Education, Inc.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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• Quiz Chapter 8 (Political Parties) and
chapter 9 (nominations and campaigns)
on Thursday