What is the organization, role and constituencies of political parties?

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What is the organization, role and constituencies
of political parties?

• Unit I Vocab from the Standards Warm-Up

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Constituent

• A person whom a member of Congress has been
  elected to represent

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Political Party

• A group of individuals with broad common
  interests who organize to nominate candidates for
  office, win elections, conduct government, and
  determine public policy
• Parties often have an expressed ideology or
  vision bolstered by a written platform with
  specific goals

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Political Affiliation

• To adopt or accept as a member of a particular
  political party

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Democrat

• One who believes in and upholds government by the
  people
• One of 2 major parties founded by Thomas
  Jefferson in 1792 as a congressional caucus to
  fight for the Bill of Rights and against the
  elitist Federalist Party
• Platform
• Strengthening US economy
• Peace
• Public welfare
• 15 Democratic Presidents (compared to 18
  Republican)

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Republican

• One who favors a republic as the best form of
  government
• One of the two primary political parties of the
  United States, organized in 1854 to oppose the
  extension of slavery
• Platform
• Free trade
• Strong defense
• Keep education accountable
• Minimize socialist ideals
• Right of center on the political spectrum
  (Conservative)
• Often referred to as the GOP (Grand Old Party)
• 18 Republican presidents (compared to 15
  Democrat)

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Conservative

• One who believes that government should be
  limited, except in supporting traditional values
  promoting freedom of opportunity

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Liberal

• One who believes the national government should
  be active in promoting health, education,
  justice, equal opportunity
• A biased view of liberal

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Moderate

• One whos beliefs fall somewhere between liberal
  and conservative

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Nomination Process

• The process by which candidates have sought
  recommendation for public office
• Caucuses Private meetings of party leaders
• Party rules usually require openness in selection
  process starting at the local level, then county,
  then congressional district, then state
• 19 states use this process
• Nominating Conventions An official public
  meeting of a party to choose candidates for
  office
• Under this system, local party organizations send
  representatives to a county nominating
  convention, then up to statewide convention
• Primary Elections
• Direct Primary An election in which party
  members select people to run in the general
  election
• Most commonly used today
• Closed Primary Only members of a political
  party can vote
• Open Primary All voters may participate, even
  if they do not belong to a political party, but
  they can vote only in one partys primary
• Petition A person announces his or her candidacy
  files a petition that a specified number of
  voters have signed in order to be placed on the
  ballot
• Some states require that all candidates file
  petitions

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Election Process

• The formal decision-making process by which a
  population chooses an individual to hold public
  office
• Elections may fill offices in the legislature,
  sometimes in the executive and judiciary, and for
  regional and local government

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Local Elections

• Cobb County
• http//www.cobbelections.org/
• http//communications.cobbcountyga.gov/elected_off
  icials.htm

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State Elections

• Georgia
• http//communications.cobbcountyga.gov/elected_off
  icials.htm
• Governor Sonny Perdue
• Georgia State Senate
• http//www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2009_10/senate/metr
  omap.htm

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National Elections

• United States White House Administration
• http//www.whitehouse.gov/administration/
• U. S. Senators (Georgia delegation)
• http//www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/
  senators_cfm.cfm?StateGA
• U. S. Representatives (Georgia members)
• http//www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtm
  lga

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Campaign Funding Spending

• Money candidates need for such things as office
  space, staff salaries, consultants, pollsters,
  travel, campaign literature advertising
• Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) of 1971,
  amendments1974, 1976 1979 require public
  discloser of each candidates spending, provide
  federal funding for presidential elections,
  prohibit labor unions business organizations
  from making direct contributions limit how much
  individuals groups can contribute
• Federal Election Commission (FEC) created in
  1974, is an independent agency in the executive
  branch to administer federal election laws
• Holds records of campaign contributions
• All contributions over 100 must be reported
• All records open for public inspection

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Campaign Funding Spending

• Public Funding
• Presidential candidates may accept federal
  funding from the Presidential Election Campaign
  Fund for the primary campaigns the general
  election, while limiting their campaign spending
• Third-party presidential candidates can also
  receive federal funds if their party received at
  least 5 of the vote in the previous presidential
  election
• Private Funding
• The bulk of campaign funding comes from private
  sources, such as individual citizens, party
  organizations, corporations special interest
  groups

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Media Coverage Campaign Advertising

• Television commercials, radio advertising,
  newspaper ads, electronic newsletters, social
  media, etc. used to help capture voters attention
• Feature themes, images, slogans /or issues
• Candidate can wage aggressive, all-out attack on
  opponent, or low-key campaign

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Public Opinion Polls

• The method used to measure ideas attitudes a
  significant number of Americans hold about issues

• Traditional methods
• Political party organizations
• Interest groups
• Mass media
• Letter writing
• Electronic access
• Straw polls (biased sample)

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Public Opinion Polls cont

• Scientific polling
• Three basic steps for
• Select group to be questioned
• Present carefully worded questions to the
  individuals in the sample
• Interpret the results
• Conduct poll
• Mail, phone, email
• Sample populations
• Universe group of people to be studied
• ex. all seniors at a high school
• Representative sample small group of people
  typical of a universe
• ex 1,500 US adults can accurately measure
  opinions of 280 million people
• Random Sampling a technique in which everyone in
  the universe has an equal chance of being
  selected

• Sampling error a measure of how much the sample
  results differ from the sample universe
• ex plus or minus 3 percent
• Cluster sample organizes or clusters people by
  geographical divisions
• Random Sampling a technique in which everyone in
  the universe has an equal chance of being
  selected

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Right to Vote (Amendments)

• Suffrage
• the right to vote
• Early limits
• Pre-American Revolution could not vote
• Women
• Most African Americans
• White males who did not own property