Sides Chapter 10: Congressional Campaigns Flashcards
what are the two trends that have characterized congressional campaigns?
nationalization of congressional campaigns and the declining dominance of incumbents.
why have these advantages eroded?
Incumbents used to have the advantage of the relative ease of raising money and the personal connections that they have with voters in their districts. But now these advantages have eroded because voters have become more concerned with backing their party. Voters perceive elected officials’ partisan identification to be as important as or even more important than their performance in office, incumbents’ fortunes become untethered from local factors and more tightly linked to national political tides beyond their control.
what kind of person is running for congressional office?
Most individuals that run for office are ambitious and strategic. They have often held a lower political office that has provided them with experience and connections that are helpful to their campaign. Serious candidates will only enter a race when their prospects are good. But the person with the best odds of winning is the incumbent. This is especially true if the partisan composition of an incumbent’s district or state favors the incumbent’s party.
why would an incumbent not run for re-election?
Such as poor health, prevent them from doing so. They will also step down due to scandal. They can also decide to retire when their districts change after redistricting, because the changes to their district require them to court new constituents to hold on to their seats. They may also decide to retire if they feel that the country is experiencing a wave of anti-incumbent sentiment or a wave of sentiment that favors the opposing party.
What are open seats and how do they happen?
When incumbents retire they create open seats, which allow for contests between non incumbents. Open seats attract candidates who have already served in public office because they have experience and backing necessary to run.
What are quality candidates?
Candidates with political experience are referred to as quality candidates. They are strategic and recognize that their chances of winning are higher with the incumbent out of the picture.
what are hill committees?
Encourage prospective candidates throughout the country to run for office. They scout for business and community leaders who might make successful candidates for office. Then they are courted by party leaders and sent to workshops to learn how to run campaigns. They can also be provided with a list of donors.
who are the types of people that normally run congressional campaigns?
On average, those who choose to run are more educated and wealthier than most Americans. They are also white and men mostly. The successful candidates are also ones that work in business, law, or politics and have large networks that can be tapped for campaign resources.
what are the issues that congressional candidates need to focus on?
Congressional candidates have historically faced the challenge of crafting campaign messages that address both local and national issues. Conventionally, the idea was that local issues should predominate but national issues have become more prevalent then local issues over time. This is due to the fact that national parties have developed professional messaging strategies to help them prepare for elections.
what is earned media?
is the publicity that candidates get by engaging in promotional activities. They hold frequent press conferences or give speeches in the hope that they will be covered by local media.
what are the roles of hill committees?
Exclusively focus on electing party members to congress. They do this by targeting the handful of House and Senate rates that are closely contested in each election cycle and ignoring the rest. Their first priority is to protect incumbents who are in jeopardy of losing their seats. The second priority is to defend the seats of members of the party who are leaving office. They can also try and flip vulnerable seats that have been controlled by the other party.
what are coordinate expenditures?
Involve collaboration between the committee and the candidate or a representative of the candidate. They are usually spent on services that are given to a candidate directly or performed by a political consultant on a candidate’s behalf. They are subject to strict limits, however.
what is the incumbency advantage?
Is defined as the vote share earned by an incumbent compared with what a non incumbent would have earned.
Why has the incumbency advantage declined?
Voters now care more about the party than how the incumbent has served the district. It has become harder and harder for moderates of one party to get reelected in districts that favor the opposing party. Incumbents are also behaving like they have a high possibility of losing and that means that they are constantly raising money and amassing a large war chest to scare off competitors.
what is the personal vote?
That is the portion of an elected official’s vote share that can be attributed to their relationship with constituents. They also make use of certain prerequisites of office to get publicity.
