Chapter 9

Question 0

Campaign strategy

Answer 0

The master game plan candidates lay out to guide their electoral campaign

Question 1

Nomination

Answer 1

The official endorsement of a candidate for office by a political party. Generally, success in the nomination game requires momentum, money and media attention.

Question 2

National party convention

Answer 2

The supreme power within each of the parties. This convention meets every four years to nominate the party’s presidential and Vice Presidential candidates and to write the party’s platform

Question 3

McGovern-Fraser Commission

Answer 3

A commission formed at the 1968 Democratic convention in response to demands for reform by minority groups and others who sought better representation

Question 4

Super delegates

Answer 4

National party leaders who automatically get a delegate slot at the national party convention

Question 5

Invisible primary

Answer 5

The period before the votes are cast when candidates compete to win early support from the elite of the party and to create a positive first impression of their leadership skills

Question 6

Cacus

Answer 6

A system of selecting conventional delegates used in about a dozen states in which voters must attend an open meeting to express their presidential preference.

Question 7

Primary

Answer 7

Elections in which a states voters go to the polls to express their preference for a party’s nominee for president. Most delegates to the national party conventions are chosen this way.

Question 8

Front loading

Answer 8

The recent tendency of states to hold primaries early in the calendar in order to capitalize on media attention

Question 9

Party platform

Answer 9

A political party’s statement of its goals and policies for the next four years. The platform is drafted prior to the party convention by a committee whose members are chosen in tough proportion to each candidates strength. It is the best formal statement of the party’s beliefs

Question 10

Direct mail

Answer 10

A method of raising money for a political cause or candidate, in which information and requests for money are sent to the people whose names appear on the lists of those who have supported similar views or candidates in the past.

Question 11

Campaign contributions

Answer 11

Donations that are made directly to a candidate or a party and that must be reported to the FEC. As of 2012, individuals were allowed to donate up to 2,500 per election to a candidate and up to 30,800 to a political party.

Question 12

Independent expenditures

Answer 12

Expenses on behalf of a political message that are made by groups that are uncoordinated with any candidate’s campaign.

Question 13

Federal election campaign act

Answer 13

A law passed in 1974 for reforming campaign finances. The act created the federal election commission and provided for limits on and disclosure of campaign contributions

Question 14

Political actions committees

Answer 14

Groups that raise money from individuals and then distribute it in the form of contributions to candidates that the group supports. PACs must register with the FEC and report their donations and contributions to it. Individuals contributions to a PAC are limited to 5000 a year and a make give up to only 5000 to a candidate for each election

Question 15

Federal election commission

Answer 15

A six member bipartisan agency created by the federal election campaign act of 1974. The federal election commissions administers and enforces campaign financing laws

Question 16

Soft money

Answer 16

Political contributions earmarked for party building expenses at the grassroots level or for generic party advertising. For a time, such contributions were unlimited, until they were banned by the McCain Fiengold act

Question 17

527 groups

Answer 17

Independent political groups that are not subject to contribution restrictions because they do not directly seek the election of particular candidates. Section 527 of the tax code specifies that contributions to such groups must be reported to the IRS

Question 18

Citizens united vs federal election commission

Answer 18

A 2010 landmark Supreme Court case that ruled that individuals, corporations, and unions could donate unlimited amounts of money to groups that make independent politic expenditures.

Question 19

501(c) groups

Answer 19

Groups that are exempt for reporting their contributions and can receive unlimited contributions. Section 501c of the tax code specifies that such groups cannot spend more than half their funds on political activities.

Question 20

Super PACs

Answer 20

Independent expenditure only PACs are known as super PACs because they may endorse candidates. Their contributions and expenditure must be periodically reported to the FEC

Question 21

Selective perception

Answer 21

The phenomenon that peoples beliefs often guide what they pay the most attention to and how they interpret events

Question 22

Suffrage

Answer 22

The legal right to vote in the United States, gradually extended to virtually all citizens over the age of 18

Question 23

Civic duty

Answer 23

The belief that in order to support democratic government, a citizen should vote

Question 24

Voter registration

Answer 24

A system adopted by the states that requires voters to register prior to voting. Some states require citizens to register as much as 30 days in advance, whereas others permit Election Day registration

Question 25

Moter voter act

Answer 25

At 1993 act that requires states to permit people to register to vote when they apply for a drive’s license

Question 26

Mandate theory of elections

Answer 26

The idea that the winning candidate has a mandate from the people to carry out his or her platforms and politics. Politicians like the theory better than political scientists do.

Question 27

Policy voting

Answer 27

Elector choices that are made on the basis of the voters policy preferences and where the candidates stand on policy issues.

Question 28

Battleground states

Answer 28

The key states that the presidential campaigns focus on because they are most likely to decide the outcome of the electoral college vote