American Government

Chapter 9Campaigns, Elections, and the Media

Running for Office• Funding, funding, funding• Money needed to tour the country, esp states with early

primaries• Presidential Primary- a statewide election of delegates to a

political party’s national convention, held to determine a party’s presidential nominee

• Who runs for office? Two types, those who choose it for themselves and those who are recruited

• For certain offices, there are restrictions (see pg. 290)• Do the people who run for office accurately represent the

diversity of the American public?• Diversity is increasing though, women and minorities on the rise

Modern Campaigns

• Focus more on individual candidates than whole parties now• Why?• Fewer people identify with parties• Political consultant- a paid professional hired to devise a

campaign strategy and manage a campaign• Winner-takes-all system makes elections competitive and

require a tough strategy that maximizes a candidate’s chances of winning– Candidate visibility and appeal– The use of opinion polls– Focus groups to target sectors of the population

Campaign Financing• Presidential campaigning in 2008 cost 2.4 billion• As you move down levels in the government, you pay less and less for a

campaign because of duration of the term as well as required visibility • Corrupt Practices Acts- a series of legislation attempting to limit and

regulate the size and sources of campaign funds and expenditures• Way to get around this, form a PAC: a committee set up by and

representing a corporation, labor union, or interest group which raises and gives political campaign donations (see p 297)

• Other loopholes allowed for soft money- unregulated campaign contributions

• Issue advocacy another way to get around regulations- advertising paid for by interest groups that focuses on an issue without mentioning the election

• Major reform in 2002, McCain-Feingold Act: banned soft money, limited ads against candidates by interest groups, etc.

Running for President• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok_VQ8I7g6I&feature=fvw • Have to win the primaries first, then win the national election• There are two types of primaries, it depends on which state you live

in, 1. winner takes all, 2. proportional• Republicans used the 1st, Dems the 2nd in 2008 which is why it took

so long to determine an official nominee• How you are allowed to vote is also different depending on the state• Closed primary- the voter is limited to choosing candidates of the

party of which he/she is a registered member (an attempt for each party to nominate the strongest candidate without sabotage)

• Open primary- any registered voter may vote, but only for one party• Blanket primary- can cross party line (AK and LA)

Running for President

• Front-loading the primaries- moving primaries up in date to maximize their impact on the nomination (Iowa, NH in Jan)

• Why is winning the early primaries important? Labeled the front-runner

• McCain was quickly labeled the front-runner• This is causing problems because certain states are

able to influence the outcomes of the primaries more than others- a rotating system of which primaries are early has been proposed

The Electoral College• Does your vote count directly in a presidential election?• Voters actually vote for electors, members of the Electoral College which

selects the president and vice-president• Originally intended to protect the executive from the “excitable masses”• Each state chooses its own electors, which is equal to its number of senators

plus its number of representatives. Total number is 538 (100 senators, 435 reps, 3 for the district of Columbia)

• Is it possible for a candidate to win the presidency without winning the popular vote? Yes, it has happened 4 times! Electors are not required to vote along party line which means upset victories can happen.

• Criticisms: winner takes all in each state, bigger states have an advantage overall but small states are actually more represented (CA, one vote for every half a million voters, WY, one for every 164,000), hotly contested states will also receive more campaigning than others

• But abolishing the College would require an official Constitutional Amendment which is unlikely

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCjWPo70XZY&feature=related

How are Elections Conducted?• Every state must use an Australian ballot- a secret ballot prepared,

distributed, and counted by the government using tax money• 2 types: 1. office-block: groups candidates by the title of the office they

are seeking 2. party-column: candidates are arranged by party label http://www.cvilleok.com/2006NovNews/2006kNov07SampleBallot.jpg

• The party-column ballot especially produces a coattail effect: one popular candidate will increase the success of other candidates on the same ticket

• Voting by mail (absentee ballots)• Voter fraud (people voting more than once, phony registrations, improper

use of absentee ballots)• Voter id requirements: varies by state, tough question of stopping fraud

but making sure that every one can vote• Even the equipment used has come under scrutiny (FL, 2000)

Voter Turnout• The percentage of citizens taking part in the election process• In 2008, 213 million people were eligible to vote• Only 130 million actually did (61%)• True or false: more people vote in presidential elections than

midterm elections• 2006, voter turnout was 40%• At the local level, it is even worse (25% and lower) even though

each person’s vote counts more than in a bigger election and the voter is more directly affected by the results

• What do you think? Does low turnout indicate general satisfaction? Or laziness? Or not being educated about the issues?

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hum8ucsX_y8

Who Votes?

• Age- the older you are, the more likely you are to vote• Education- the more educated you are, the more likely

you are to vote• Race/ethnicity- 51.6% of Caucasians vote, compared

with 30-40% for people of other descent (2008 changed this)

• Income- the higher the income, the more likely a person is to vote

• Competition- if there competition in a state, the voters are more likely to turn out

Restrictions on Voting

• Originally a voter needed to own property• States could originally decide who could vote• 15th amendment (1870) extended the vote to

black males (but not full access until 1960s)• 19th Amendment (1920) for women• 26th Amendment (1971) for 18-year-olds• Who may not vote now? Felons, inmates,

noncitizens, the mentally incompetent, minors

More on Voting

• Need to have completed voter registration- the entry of a person’s name onto the list of eligible voters

• You must be able to prove: citizenship, age, and residency• One problem is that registration must often be done well

in advance of an election (not in WI though)• Party issues as well- 1/5 of the US voting-age population is

unregistered, of these more are Democrats than are Republicans

• Is registration really necessary? Is it stopping people from voting?

The media and voting

• 90% + of all Americans get their news from tv• Print still gets information out• Internet as a growing resource of information• Mass media has 6 functions in the US:

– Entertainment– Reporting the news– Identifying public problems and setting the public agenda– Political socialization of new generations– Providing a political forum (spark communication and debate)– Making profits (media are usually privately owned, exception of

public tv and NPR)

Modern Media

• In 1960s, only 11 minutes a day was devoted to national news, now it is available 24/7 and even the main networks devote about 3 hours

• Might not get the whole picture with tv news– Sound bites– Relying on images– Limited time available for a story

• CNN effect- we know immediately when something happens and leaders have to make a decision right away

The Media and Elections

• Political advertising- 2008 total spent: 3 billion dollars• Negative “attack” ads• Is there anything good about attack ads? What’s bad

about them?• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ocngIAeXjQ&featu

re=related• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBLPCwEmgVs• Role of televised debates• Also social networking, like MyBarackObama.com,

blogging, and podcasting as new ways to get out your opinion

Other Considerations• Media outlets are owned- GE owns NBC, Disney owns ABC, etc• Very few independent outlets left• National news is more profitable than local news because it reaches a larger

audience• May lead to a decline in democratic debate if a few companies own all the media• Censorship- the 1st Amendment only goes so far (i.e. Janet Jackson at the 2004

SuperBowl)• Media Bias• This does concern liberal/conservative, but the news reported is not inherently

religious• Media can be conservative when reporting economics but liberal when reporting

social issues (exceptions: FOX, talk radio)• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHKzS5Zl6mY• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIW8LUko_nA&feature=related• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6CSix3Dy04&feature=related