Party Organisation Flashcards
Who is the head of the DNC (Democrat National Committee)?
who did it used to be
Tom Perez, hispanic and a Clintonian
used to be Debbie Wasserman Schultz but she had to resign when it came to light she favoured Hillary in the 2016 Primaries
Who is the head of the RNC (Republican National Committee)?
Ronna Romney McDaniel, she is quite left for a Republican
Trump asked her not to use ‘Romney’
used to be Reince Priebus he used to be Trump’s head of staff
Conventional wisdom stated that the National Committees were weak affairs and that it was better to think of parties as decentralised state based parties. How did the 2008 election change this?
Michigan and Florida front loaded their primaries and broke the rules the Committees had put in place y doing so.
The DNC voted to strip the states of their National convention delegates, a later compromise saw the Michigan and Florida delegates attend but with only half a vote each.
The RNC also had offending state’s delegates number halved
What do the National committees do?
Organise the NNC, the most public manifestation of the parties
organise primaries and caucuses
What problems with states did the RNC have in 2012?
5 states ignored rules and held primaries at the wrong time. These states had their delegate numbers halved
What was the calendar control like in 2016? How does this show strong party organisation?
very tight control, no 2008 scenarios
they had two super Tuesdays
What are party congressional committees like?
each party has a set of committees in both houses overseeing policy and campaigning
the chair of the very strong and co-ordinated Democratic Senatorial campaign committees Senator Patty Murray of Washington was given much of the credit for the successful 2012 Senate campaign in which the party won 2 seats boosting numbers to 53 plus 2 independents. This was in a cycle where the Dems were defending 23/33 seats and were expected to make significant losses
What is the significance of state level organisation?
all National Party Conventions are merely the bringing together of state level parties. Considerable power is vested in state governors and mayors of big cities
How could you argue that parties are organisationally weak?
- Separation of powers means there is no leader unlike the UK
- SoP means there is weak whipping as very little promise of promotion (only committee chair positions) Obama and Clinton had to resign seats to join the executive
- Primaries select candidates and FECA prevents parties from funding candidates
What about Bernie’s emails shows the DNC are weak?
he refused to give his email lists to the DNC from the 2016 election, this may have massively affected Clinton’s chances. They couldn’t force him to give them
What was it about Nevada’s Republican platform in 2014 that shows the parties are weakly organised?
the platform was pro choice and pro same sex marriage even though the National Republican platform is not
Nevada is a key swing state
What did Trump suggest he may do if he didn’t win Republican primaries? How does this show weak party organisation?
he said he would consider running as an independent
this shows weak party control as he branded his ideology as separate to Republicanism
What people can be seen as the leader of Democrats?
Tom Perez DNC chair
Obama/ H Clinton
House minority leader Pelosi
Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer
No clear leader
How much money did the DNC spend in the Alabama Special election 2017?
1 million dollars getting Doug Jones elected
this shows strong party organisation
How many house candidates are the DNC looking to run in the 2018 midterms?
435
strong party organisation here
