Political parties/voting/campaigning

Thomas Jefferson

Origins of the 2 party system

Constitution says nothing about political Parties.

George Washington was very much against them.

But 2 of Washington’s cabinet Members, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton started the first political parties because of disagreements they had on how the country should run.

Origins of the 2 party system cont.-Democrats

The beginnings of the DemocratsThomas Jefferson started the Democratic

Republican Party: which wanted to limit the power of federal government and give more power to the States which was closer to the Citizens.

In 1828 under the Leadership of Andrew Jackson the party split and aligned itself with the Democratic Party.

The Democrats became the Dominant Party until 1850’s

Origins of the 2 party system cont.-Republicans

Alexander Hamilton Believed that Individual rights were at risk if the government was too weak, so he favored a strong nat. govern. and started the Federalist Party (you remember them)

From 1816-1828 the Federalist faded away but in 1830 the WHIGS (or National Republicans) rose to challenge the Democrats until the 1850’s

Abraham Lincoln

Origins of the 2 party system cont.-Republicans..cont.

1854 break away Democrats and WHIGS who opposed slavery, formed the REPUBLICAN party.

1860 Abraham Lincoln becomes the first REPUBLICAN President and the 2 (Dems and REP.)have been the 2 major parties ever since

3rd Parties

Ralph Nader

3rd Parties

No 3rd Party has ever won a Presidential election and they rarely win other major elections.

They do influence government and social policies by moving the two Major parties to their causes

Types of 3rd Parties

Single issue parties- arise not to win elections but promote a social, economic, or moral issue.

They (single issue parties)hope to persuade legislators to pass laws that support their ISSUE.

The Party may fade away when issue is no longer important

Types of 3rd Parties

Ideological parties- focus on changing society in a major way

Examples: Socialist Party, Communist Party support

government of businesses.Libertarian Party wants very very little

government action. To increase individual freedoms

Green Party opposes corporations and prefers grassroots decisions.

Other Party systems

Most Democracies have multi party systems. 3 or more parties.

All parties all represent different views of government.

One Party system -The Party and government are the same thing. Only one party the ruling party is allowed to exist. i.e Communist Party

Theocracy – Religion and government are the same thing. Decisions are made by religious leaders. All other parties or opposition is outlawed.

VOTING

Voting

Voting is an important right of U.S. citizenship.

Those who do not vote are failing to carry out a civic responsibility

What do I need to be able to vote:A-Be 18 yrs oldB-Be a resident of the State you are voting in

for a specific period of timeC-Register to vote ahead of time usually 25

days B4 election.

Voting Process

A-Register to vote B- go to your polling place on election

day(determined by where you live) usually town halls, schools, firehouses, public buildings

C- if you can’t make it to your polling location the day of the vote you could vote early by absentee ballot. i.e. elderly, military personnel, college students.

D- polls are open usually 7 a.m. -7 p.m.E-Vote

Organization of political parties

Chart on page 225

Elections

Types of electionsPrimaries: Battle between candidates to gain

parties NominationGeneral electionsElections on issuesSpecial elections

General Election

General elections always take place the first Tuesday, after the first Monday in November

All seats in the HOUSE OF REPRESENTITIVES and 1/3 of all SENATE seats will be voted on.

The Presidential Elections are held every 4 years

Presidential Elections

3 steps1-Nomination2-Campaign3-The vote

Nomination

The year or so before Presidential elections Candidates for each party via ( compete ) for their Parties Nomination

Campaign-Candidates travel across the country giving speeches, appearing on TV holding news conferences. Anything to get them seen by voters in a good light

Vote

Every state has one electoral vote for each U.S. Senator. 2 times 50=100

The total number of ( HOUSE OF REPESENTITIVES) members is 435.

Washington D.C. gets 3 electoral votes. Totaling 538 members of the Electoral

CollegeNominee who gets Majority ( 50%+1) of

Electoral College, 270 or more is President

Running for President

There are 4 parts to every election1-Candidate2-Issues3-Campaign Organization4-MONEY Without the money you can forget the other 3

Campaigning

Canvassing – going door to door advertising / selling your candidate (handing out stuff)

Endorsements – famous or popular people supporting and or campaigning for a particular candidate. “The ROCK like President Obama and so should you”

Campaign cont.

Advertising and image moldingA- Campaign advisors spend a lot of time and

money creating the right IMAGE for their candididate.

B- money for Ads : allows you to attack an opponent without them getting a chance to respond.

C- posters, flyers, radio….

Political Ads

Campaign cont.

Television ads are most expensive but the most effective.

you can send a quick dramatic emotional plea, attack, image of you or your opponent and it tends to lingers in viewers mind longer.

Campaign Expenses

Things you need to pay for while running for any position

T.V. time, radio time, airfare, all transportation, salaries for your staff, professional consultants to help make decisions, polling, phone bills, postage, printing costs, computers, internet access

Campaign Expenses cont…

Costs ranges for type of electionsSmall-town mayoral race : few hundred to

few thousand dollarsA State congressional race : several hundred

thousand dollars to several million dollarsNational congressional races have averaged

1.5 million dollars and some go up to 15 million dollars depending on the race.

Campaign Expenses cont…

A Presidential elections can cost hundreds of millions of dollars

Candidates with the most money almost always win.

Presidential elections The Candidate that collected the most money has won last 7 elections in a row. ( how many years is that?)

Federal Election Campaign Act

1971- passed by congress in an effort to control campaign financing

Requires public disclosure of candidates spending

Limited the amount of HARD MONEY money donated directly to a particular candidate and or a political party.

Tried to limit the amount other individuals and groups could spend on their own.

Federal Election Campaign Act

1974 amendment Created the FEC Federal Election Committee,

independent of the Executive Branch ( why is that?) to administer all election laws and monitor campaign spending.

Candidates must keep records of all contributions and report all contributions larger than $200 to FEC

Federal Election Campaign Act cont.

1976 Supreme Court ruled in Buckley v. Valeo that the government could set limits on campaign contributions because of a need to stop corruption. (why would there be a need to stop corruption? )

They however did say that it was a violation of free speech to tell candidates how much of their own money they could spend.

Public Funding for campaigns

FECA allows voters to contribute to Presidential election Campaigns by checking a special box on their taxes. $3

Candidates can qualify to get some of this money if they collect $100,000 on their own

If Candidates don’t get funding from any other sources they can split evenly money from this fund.

SOFT MONEY

Most money for Campaigns come from private sources:

Individual, corporations, labor unions, interest groups, and POLITICAL ACTION COMITEES (PACS), and the new SUPER PACS

PACs are organizations set up by interest groups to collect money to support a favored candidate.

Soft money cont.

To get around FECA spending limits are not given to particular campaigns. Instead they PACs give money to the National party or advertise on their own.

They never (or at least shouldn’t ) say to vote for or against anyone but they can have images of or names of Candidates in advertisement.

In this way there are no spending limits.

Corporations are people

Citizens United v. federal Elections committeeThe U.S. Supreme court decided that

Corporations have 1st amendment rights to free speech. Thusly they cannot be limited in the amount they can spend on political campaigns.

• Since they’ve ruled that $$$=Speech, this allows the formation of Super PACS

• As long as there is no communication between SUPER PAC and the Campaign they are endorsing

CLOBERT NATION