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CHAPTER 9 - Nominations, Elections and Campaigns

 

Explain the major changes that have taken place in the presidential nominating process since 1968 regarding: (pgs.292-293)

a. party vs.candidate dominated

 

 

 

b. the number of primaries

 

 

 

c. the length of the campaign

 

 

 

d. public funding of presidential campaigns (only) - (pg.303)

 

 

 

e. "front loading"

 

 

 

f. open versus closed conventions

 

 

 

If the President were to be directly elected, each vote would count equally (and Al Gore would have won the 2000 election). The electoral college system, on the other hand, encourages candidates to concentrate their campaigns on the states with the largest populations (ex. CA, TX, NY, FL, PA, IL, etc).

How are electoral votes apportioned among the states and how many electoral votes does it take to win ? (pgs.296-298)

 

 

Explain the function of the Federal Election Commission ? (pg.302)

 

 

How does a presidential candidate qualify for public funding (pg.302)

 

 

List the three basic strategies of a political campaign. (pgs.303-304)

 

 

 

 

5. Explain the impact of each of the following. (pgs.306-316)

"horserace journalism" (pgs.305-306)

 

 

negative ads (pg.307)

 

 

the "new media" (pg.307)

 

 

party identification (pg.308)

 

 

controversial TV ads such as "Daisy" and Willie Horton (pg.309)

 

 

specific issues and policies - ex."It's the economy stupid" (pg.311)

 

 

the candidates' personal qualities and attributes - ex.the "character" issue (pg.312)

 

 

television campaign strategy - ex. Clinton vs. Bush (pgs.314-315)

 

 

the Presidential debates - Bush vs.Clinton vs. Perot (pg.315)

 

 

Over the past 20 years, direct primaries have become more important than the convention system in selecting presidential candidates. This has resulted in (a) a weakening of party control over nominations and (b) an increase in the number of people involved in the choice of candidates. (In particular, the number of female and minority delegates at Democratic national conventions has grown substantially in that period of time). Voters in presidential primary elections also tend to be more affluent than voters in a general election.

 

GLOSSARY:

closed primary

 

open primary

 

straight ticket

 

split ticket

 

first-past-the-post election

 

plurality election

 

incumbent (pg.300)

 

open election

 

"soft money" (pg.303)