Elections: The Rules of the Game -...
Transcript of Elections: The Rules of the Game -...
1
Chapter 9Campaigns and Elections
Elections: The Rules of the Game
Elections are held at fixed intervals that cannot be changed
by the party in power
Terms are fixed and, for some offices,
staggered
Term Limits
No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as
President, for more than two years of a term to which some otherperson was elected President shall be elected to the office of the
President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was
proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder
of such term.
Twenty-second Amendment
2
Effects of a Winner-Takes-All, Single-Member District System
•Wasted-vote syndrome
•Reinforcement of moderate and centrist candidates
•Difficult for minor parties to get elected
Proportional RepresentationAn election system in which each party running receives the proportion of legislative seats corresponding to its proportion of the vote
Benefits: – More accurately reveals the division of voter
preferences– Gives those who do not vote with the plurality some
influence as a result of their voteProblems:– May make it harder to have a clear winner
The Electoral College
3
The Electoral CollegeWhy it exists: – The framers did not trust the choice of president to a direct
vote of the people
How it works:– Each state legislature is free to determine how to select its
electors– Each party nominates a slate of electors, usually longtime
party workers– In 48 states, candidates who win a plurality of the popular
vote secure all of that state’s electoral votes– In NB and ME, electoral votes are allocated to the winner of
each congressional district plus two electoral votes for the winner of the state as a whole
The Electoral College
If no candidate gets a majority of the electoral votes, the House chooses among the top three candidates– Occurred in 1800 and 1824
Makes it possible for a presidential candidate to win the popular vote but lose the electoral vote– Occurred in 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000
Battleground States
4
Running for Congress
Partisan gerrymandering
Safe seats
Coattail effect
Safe and Competitive House Seats, 2000-2008
Seats Lost by the President’s Party in Midterm Elections
Incumbents have a strong
advantage when seeking
reelection
–Name recognition–Campaign
contributions–Resources of office
5
The House of Representatives
Mounting a primary campaign– Raising money– Building a personal organization
Campaigning for the general election– Candidate appeal– National tide– Name recognition
U.S. House Incumbents Reelected1960-2008
The Senate
Costs more than House races, but cost varies by state
More likely than House seats to be seriously contested
6
Rising Campaign Costs in Congressional General Elections
Running For President Stage 1: The Nomination
Campaigning begins well before any declaration of candidacy, as candidates try to: – Line up supporters to win caucuses or
primaries in key states – Raise money for their nomination effort
Running For President Stage 1: The Nomination
Primaries – Beauty contest– Actual voting– Systems
• Proportional representation• Winner takes all• Delegate selection without a commitment to a candidate• Delegate selection and separate presidential poll
Caucuses and conventions
7
The Presidential Campaign: Typical Campaign Organization
Selecting a theme
Negative Campaigning
Using focus groups and polling
News management
Paid advertising
Seeking free airtime
Campaign Strategies
Running For President Stage 2: The National Party Convention
National Party Convention
A national meeting of delegates elected in
primaries, caucuses, or state conventions who assemble
once every four years to nominate candidates for
president and vice president, ratify the party
platform, elect officers, and adopt rules
8
The Vice Presidential Nominee
Presidential candidates usually submit their choice for vice president in the run-
up to the party’s national convention
Running For President Stage 3: The General Election
- Debates
- TV and Radio Advertising
Money in U.S. Elections
Watergate
The 1972 Watergate scandal led to the discovery that large amounts of money from corporations and
individuals were “laundered” in secret bank accounts outside the
country and used by Nixon’s campaign for political and campaign
uses
9
Efforts at Reform
Three strategies used to prevent abuse in political contributions
1. Imposing limitations on giving, receiving, and spending political money
2. Disclosure laws
3. Governmental subsidies
The Federal Election Campaign Act
Serious campaign finance reform began in the 1970s with the Federal Election Campaign Act(1971)
Buckley v. Valeo (1976) challenged the constitutionality of campaign finance limits
Now, politicians must get small amounts of money from many sources, with an exception for “soft” money
The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (2002)
Largely banned party soft money
Restored prohibition on corporations and labor unions for using general treasury funds for electoral purposes
Narrowed the definition of issue advocacy
Senators John McCain (R-Ariz) and Russell Feingold (D-Wisc), sponsors of the BCRA
10
Soft Money
Until 1998, more important in presidential contests than in congressional contestsBetween 1998 and 2002, soft money contributions more than doubledSoft money enabled large donors to be major players in campaign financeBanned by BCRA
Issue Advocacy Advertising
Promoting/attacking candidates without explicitly saying “vote for” or “vote against”Surged in 1996In recent elections, issue advocacy groups have sometimes spent more than the candidates did themselvesOften more negative than the ads run by candidatesOnly partially addressed by BCRA
Section 527 and 501(c) Organizations
527s: May advertise for or against candidates501(c): Include nonprofits whose purpose is not political
America Coming TogetherMedia FundSwift Boat Veterans
11
Independent Expenditures
Buckley v. Valeo (1976):– Individuals/groups have “First Amendment”
right to spend as much money as they wish
Restrictions:– Must be truly independent of the candidate– May not use corporate or union money
Continuing Problems with Campaign Finance
Rising costs of campaignsDeclining competitionIncreasing dependence on PACs and wealthy donorsCandidates’ personal wealthGrowth in individual contributions and use of the Internet to fund campaigns
Reforming the Nominating Process
12
Possible Reforms
National presidential primary
Regional primaries
Expand use of caucuses
Reforming the Electoral College
Give every voter the same weight in presidential balloting
Winners would have greater legitimacy
Plan would undermine federalism
Unrestrained majority rule
Populous states would lose influence
Should we use a direct popular election instead of the electoral college?
Pros Cons