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Campaign Politics
Campaign Politics final exam
65
Political Studies
Undergraduate 2
05/04/2011

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Cards

Term
Obama, McCain, Paradox of Donations
Definition
campaigns that are doing well get more money, those who are not get less money even though they don't need it, bandwagon effect
Term
what is campaign funding spent on
Definition
travel, advertisment, staff, logistics
Term
pre-1960 campaign donors
Definition
largely financed by a small number of wealthy and secret donors. donors become more important to candidates the more they donate so donors can get special treatment. 
Term
campaign costs sharply increased with what
Definition
the advent of television after WW2
Term
1971 FECA
Definition
prohibited candidates from using personal money for campaigns, established PACs, required public disclosure of contributions over $100, included Revenue Act
Term
Revenue Act of 1971
Definition
provided tax credits and breaks for campaign contributors, established public funding for pres campaigns by putting the $1 (now $3) box on tax forms
Term
1974 Amendment to FECA
Definition
established 6 person bipartisan FEC to regulate and enforce laws, established matching funds criteria, contribution ceiling for individuals, campaign spending limits
Term
Buckley vs Valeo 1976
Definition
limiting personal spending on campaign NOT OK, limiting campaign spending ONLY OK IF CANDIDATE ACCEPTS PUBLIC FUNDING, regulating campaign contributions OK
Term
matcing funds criteria
Definition
must win 10% of vote in consecutive primaries and must raise $5000 in 20 different states
Term
matching funds
Definition
encouraged candidates to seek small donations, for $250 contributed per donor to a campaign gov would match, however if individual donate $2300 only $250 would be matched. take matching funds = accept spending limits. only recieve in election year. matching funds only for primary season
Term
1979 FECA Amendment
Definition
encouraged "party building activities", limit campaign contributions but not party contributions, allowed for soft money use
Term
2002 BCRA
Definition
banned soft money use by party, raised individual and overall fed contributions, prohibited ads with candidates name starting 60 prior to election
Term
purpose of modern conventions
Definition
little significance but high excitement, establish party platform, introduce candidate to the world,put on a show of love, formally nominate candidates
Term
pre-convention, post nomination
Definition
repair internal party damage, reposition the candidate to a more moderate position
Term
convention scheduling
Definition
better to go first because bigger convetion bump and earlier opportunity to start campaigning, but last convention gets last word. avoid major news events
Term
original vp selection
Definition
second place in presidential campaingn
Term
vp selection in convention area
Definition
regional and financial interests
Term
new way of picking vp
Definition
candidate choses, less regional and more personal
Term
importance of vp
Definition
novelty and media coverage, only big impact on campaign if the selection sucks or is very well known, 
Term
early campaign tactics
Definition
friends and family campaigned to electors and others, candidates would often pretend they did not even know they were running, a successful campaign meant voters knew who the candidate was on election day
Term
campaigning in 19th century
Definition
first candidate to campaign for self was william henry harrison in 1840, 1850-1900 candidates would partake in "front porch campaigning" and address a small amount of people, the party was very important in campaigning at this time and led to importance of patronage
Term
campaigns 1900-1950
Definition
"from porch to train" candidates would travel around teh country and campaign, beginning of print newspaper advertisment and radio campaingn
Term
modern campaigning
Definition
after WW2, TV use soared and candidates would use media and tv ads to campaign. single greatest change in campaigns in the 20th century is professionalism
Term
original debate organization
Definition
League of Women Voters originally organized debates so thagt the public could learn more about candidate, Commission for Presidential Debates took over 
Term
Bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates
Definition

3 criteria for debate elidgability:

1. meet constitutional election requirements

2. be on the ballot in enough states to be elidgable to win majority of electoral votes and be organized in the majority of congressional districts in states

3. have at least 15% in public opinion polls

Ross Perot excluded in 1996

Term
what can debates do
Definition
give public idea of how candidates perform under pressure, see how both candidates answer the same question, reinforce one candidate as favorite and one as underdog
Term
how to win a debate
Definition
there is never really a winner, only have to live up to or not to expectations
Term
play to different audiences in a debate
Definition
quality answers for those with high knowledge/interest, look and sound "presidential" to those who arent, set and respond to expectations
Term
Obama debate
Definition
excessive practice with actor, command and control, powerful but never personal responses, resist McCain without being mean
Term
McCain debate
Definition
excessive chaos in preparation, did well in first and second but did not live up to expectations in third, excessive instruction different for each debate, focus on experience but not age
Term
VP debate
Definition
highest viewed debate ever, Biden was prepared even more than Obama, Palin had strange debate preparation and had little knowledge of actual policy so instead of answering questions simply said what the campaign told her to
Term
success in debates
Definition
contingent on expectations, preparation=confidence=success, 
Term
debates impact on campaign
Definition
very little impact unless someone really messes up, most people who watch the debates already have formed opinions on the candidates that rarely changed, can help moderates decide
Term
horce race journalism
Definition
treat campaigns like games and candidates like players, which makes it more interesting and watchable but can harm interests because focus shifts from what in policy to why, might not focus on policy but on candidate
Term
evolution of campaign advertising
Definition

19th century, limited print media, jingles, buttons posters

1900-1950 print media dominates, limited radio shift after 1925

1950 on shift to TV, more expensive, must sell candidate like soap, candidates must have look sound and message

Term
Rosser Reeves and "hard sell"
Definition

advertising in 50s 

volume and selling points of commerial

"usp" unique selling proposition

expert testimony

Term
negative ads
Definition
most information, most effective, people react best to negative ads that attack policy and not character, can make people more likely to vote
Term
compare contrast ads
Definition
similar to and ass effective as negative, but takes both candidates and compare qualities and policies, only negative if one candidate is completely left out
Term
positive ads
Definition
most fluffy and least effective, either entail a candidate bio (for lesser known) or a list of policies and achievements, less memorable, preestablished notions are not going to be changed by these ads, only effect those who are uninformed
Term
commercial bias
Definition
all news sources rely on advertising for revenue, so attacks are non-idealogical but have commercial interest, media does public service but not public servants, news content is shaped by commercial interests 
Term
McCain nominatation process
Definition
2007 his campaign almost ran out of money, was not first choice but almost everyones second, lost Iowa but focues on NH and won, multiple camapigns hinged on SC and he won which put him as front-runner in winning FL, won 15 out of 19 primaries super tuesday, GOP winner-take-all secured his nomination
Term
Obama nomination
Definition
had a consistant strategy, little name recognition, not much money as HRC but energetic volunteers, won Iowa b/c HRC didnt campaign there and his activist roots, lost in NH, hinged on SC and he won, won superdelegates and majority of delegate votes even though HRC argued she won more pop vote, secured nomination
Term
HRC issues in nomination
Definition
internal conflict, focused on national campaign, most favorable but also unfavorable, didnt campaign in Iowa and SC, didnt focus successfully on superdelegates like OBAma
Term
gambles of McCain camapign in general election
Definition
chose Palin and did not know here even thoguh he wanted to chose Lieberman, suspended campaign during economic crisis in order to give more prep time for debates but did nothing good in washington so had to silently restart campaign, refusing to hire Bush workers but ended up hiring them with 6 weeks left which showed that his campaign was on their last leg
Term
unconvincing explanation of Obamas win
Definition

outraised McCain: btoh still raised lots of money, started throughing money around, highest funded candidate does not always win, bandwagon effect

youth voters: increased but did not outdo other age groups, most important as vounteers, dems usually do best with youth

media hostility: usually hostile but can still win, charisma always helps candidates

Term
actual reasons for obama win
Definition
favorable national conditions, consistant strategy day 1-700, consistant and clear message of change, lack of internal drama, superior organization, more successful in mobilizing every race/age group
Term
unconvincing reasons for mccain loss
Definition

outspent

failure to motive GOP base: did so, but failed to motivate moderate and swing voters

hostile media

Term
real reason for Mccain lsot
Definition
tied to bush, failure to identify and push consistant and clear messaage, internal chaos, failure to capitalize on inherent appeal to independent voters
Term
main differences between pres and congress elections
Definition
congress has smaller and less diverse, narrower issues, more localized
Term
fundamental congress interest
Definition
raise money for and keep your constituents happy, represent issues of constituents
Term
midterm loss effect
Definition
every midterm election in history expect 98 and 02 main party sees losses because party is often unhappy with president failure to keep promises, less voters show up from party than did to vote for president, overall turnout is lower
Term
presidential coattails effect
Definition
successful pres candidates bring in more congressmen than the opposing party because their party showed up more to vote and because people just vote for the president and eveyrone under them on the party ballot
Term
redistricting
Definition
congressional redistrciting changes nature of constituency, incumbents can help influence redistricting even though actual decision is made by state legislatures, can be ussed to engineer outcomes, US DOJ requires pre approval for redistrcing in many southern states because of race issues
Term
gerrymandering
Definition
drawing strage districts, can be brought to courts, hard to draw the line between redistricting and gerrymandering
Term
dingells law
Definition

two components to legislating

substance - whats actually in the law (not important)

process - how the law gets passed (important

Term
reform for nominations
Definition
expensive, complicated, focus too much on IOWA and NH 
Term
national primary plan
Definition
make all primarys on same day, would give advantage to candidates with most money, too much like gen election, but would be simple and take away considerable power from some states
Term
delaware plan
Definition
organize primarys by state size, smallest 12 states go first, largest 12 go fourth, require less money and resources for more campaigning
Term
cali plan
Definition
graduated random, point value to each state
Term
automatic electoral college plan
Definition
electors would be abolished and electoral votes would be awarded automatically to the popular vote winner
Term
district EC plan
Definition
voted allocated based on the popular vote winner in each district
Term
national bonus plan
Definition
bonus of 102 electoral votes awarded to pop vote winner
Term
national popular vote plan
Definition
abolish, winner gets the plurality of pop vote
Term
pop vote with majority requirment
Definition
majority of popular vote winner would win, if no one get majorioty it would require a runoff, which would be difficult cuz hard for people to show up to vote a second time
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