Quiz 3 study guide Flashcards
advantages for incumbents
The incumbency advantage is the advantage gained by House members after serving more than one term. IA has increased over the last few years due to weak party identification, meaning voters are more easily swayed by standing reps, and by increased resources to incumbents which allows them to go home and influence the constitution more. Incumbents also have advantages over competitors in congressional elections. Incumbents have at least 5 advantages over their opponents in congressional elections.
- Because they are well-known, they are able to advertise all year. they don’t advertise in the traditional way, instead of TV ads they actually talk to their constituents and attempt to stay visible sand well known.
- credit-claiming: take credit for things they didnt do but were involved in or to help the community through the casework and the pork barrel; this is a better technique than credits claiming the policies that member has voted on.
- through position-taking their constituents learn about the character of their incumbent.
- most opponents who run agains an incumbent tend to be wreak and aren’t a risk
- incumbents have more money put toward their campaign thanks to PACs than their opponents
Open primary system
anyone can vote for any caudate in either party regardless of whether they are registered democrat or republican
Closed primary system
you can only vote for someone in your registered party
S.C. case: Citizens United v. FEC
Supreme court case that decided that the part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law that prevents corporations and labor unions from spending money on advertisements independent of political candidates or parties is unconstitutional.
S.C. case: Marbury c. Madison
established judicial review (the Court’s power to rule an act of Congress unconstitutional). The court did not again invoke this power until the Dred Scott decision in 1859.
VP
Joe Biden
Department of State
Secretary John Kerry
Types of congressional committees
standing, select, conference, joint
Pendleton act
method of hiring federal employees based on merit rather than on political beliefs or allegiances (replaced spoils system)
Title IX
originally written in order to end discrimination based on race, color, or national origin, the act tremendously helped to energize the women’s rights movement which had somewhat slowed after women’s suffrage in 1920
Department of the Interior
Secretary Sally Jewell
Department of Agriculture
Secretary Thomas Vilsack
Department of Commerce
Secretary Penny Pritsker
Department of Labor
Secretary Thomas Perez
Department of Health and Human Services
Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary Julián Castro
Department of Transportation
Secretary Anthony Foxx
Department of Energy
Secretary Ernest Moniz
Department of Education
Secretary John King
Department of Veterans Affairs
Secretary Robert McDonald
Department of Homeland Security
Secretary Jeh Johnson
Iron Triangle
relationship between congressional committees, the bureaucracy, and interest groups
Standing committees
deal with issues of permanent legislative concern
Conference committees
for a bill to become law, both houses must approve identical versions. When different versions are passed, the leaders create a conference committee to reconcile the differences between the two bills
Select committees
Deals with temporary issues, investigation
Select committees
Deals with temporary issues, investigation
Joint Committees
consist of members of both houses usually created to deal with specific issues.
Hatch Act
a congressional law that forbade government officials from participating in partisan politics and protected government employees from being fired on partisan grounds; it was revised in 1993 to be less restrictive
In an open Republican primary
E- everyone registered voter and vote
In a given election cycle, a political action committee may contribute to a candidate no more than
D- $5,000
At a nomination convention, the position that the political party will take is decided by the
A- Platform Committee
In order to win the election for the presidency, a candidate must
A- Receive a majority of the votes in the electoral college
Which of the following people is most limey to vote in a general election
B- a 65 YO professor
In a presidential election, state caucuses differ from state primaries in which of the following ways?
B- Caucuses usually have lower turnouts
Based on the data in the table above, William J. Clinton won the election because
C- he won a majority of electoral votes
The official head of the senate is the
B- VP of the US
One of the most important legislative powers of congress is
E- the ability to tax and spend
Congressional districts for the House are determined in the majority of states by
D- a census and the various state legislatures
How are cabinet members chosen?
A- By the president and are confirmed by the senate
The Executive office of the President (EOP) is
A- often a favored tool of the president due to the lack of congressional oversight
What is the National Security Council (NCS) in charge of?
C- Advising the president and helping to coordinate American foreign policy
“Senatorial courtesy” is
D- When the president gets approval of the two senator from the state where he is about to name a federal judge
Marbury v. Madison established
B- the power of the court to use judicial review
The pendleton act
E- limited the spoils system and created a system of civil service exams
the iron triangle is
E- a policy-making group made of a committee of congress, an interest group, and a bureaucratic agency
