1. Unit Three – Political Parties, Elections, Interest Groups and The Mass Media Harris – AP Government

2. Role of Interest Groups ► Interest Group – Organization of people with similar policy goals who enter the political process to try to achieve those aims. ► Different from political parties – Political parties use the election process to get candidates elected in pursuit of their policy goals. Interest groups support candidates but don’t run their own. Interest groups are also policy specialists, while political parties are generalists.

3. Pluralism ► Pluralist theory argues that interest groups compete and balance each other out in the political process. They believe that interest groups are good because they create a balanced system. There are several key arguments to this theory: 1. Groups provide a key link between people and government. 2. Groups compete 3. No one group is likely to become too dominate. (When one group becomes to powerful, the opposition pushes harder.) 4. Groups usually play by the “rules of the game” 5. Groups weak in one resource can use another. (Business has money, but labor has power.)

4. Elite and Class Theory ► Elite and Class theory – argues that power is held by a few wealth people and key groups. They argue that the interest group system is bad because it only helps a few groups. They have a few arguments to prove their points and disprove pluralism. 1. The fact that there are many groups doesn’t prove anything. Not all groups have the same power. 2. Most power rests within a few groups. 3. The power of a few is reinforced by the set up of the system. 4. Small groups may win some minor battles, however powerful groups always win big battles.

5. Hyperpluralism ► Hyperpluralists believe that they system might have functioned at one time, however it is now dysfunctional. Hyperpluralists believe that the government defers to the demands of the lobbyists excessively. This allows conflicting and inconsistent legislation to become laws. ► Hyperpluralists are critical of the current system for several reasons. 1. They believe that the government and interest groups have become to friendly. This means no tough decisions are made, instead they try to please everyone. 2. Interest groups have benefited from the number of subgovernment groups. 3. Conflicting and confusing policy is the result of all of this.

6. Successful Interest Groups ► Several factors go into determining how successful an interest group is. Things like size, intensity, and financial resources are all important.

7. Successful Interest Groups ► Question: Are large groups more successful? No, large groups have a one main problem to overcome, free-riders. ► All interest groups consist of potential members and actual members. Potential members are the people who could join the group and actual members do join the group. ► Collective good – This is a term that refers to something of value that an interest groups obtains, but can’t be denied to potential members. Unions are a good example. Unions negotiate contracts for everyone, even nonmembers. This means potential members benefit from their action with out the cost of joining. This is known as the free-rider problem ► The larger the group the larger the free rider problem. This is because any gains by the group will be small when it is distributed to everyone. Small groups stand to gain the most. This means they are more willing to fight.

8. Successful Interest Groups ► Intensity – Single issue groups tend to have members that are more willing to be involved. This higher level of intensity translates into more power. ► Financial resources are also important. The more money the more power.

9. Interest Groups ► The number of interest groups have been increasing since the end of WWII. Interest groups are not required by law to register with anyone, so the exact number is not known. The annual Encyclopedia of Associations attempts to count them all, currently they list over 22,000 interest groups. ► Interest groups can be put into several different categories according to the issues they are interested in. Currently, about 18% of interest groups are said to be focused on trade issues. This is the largest of the groups. Health issue groups make up about 10%.

10. How Interest Groups Work ► Lobbying – Lobbying is defined as “communication, by someone other than a citizen acting on his or her behalf, directed to a governmental decision maker with the hope of influencing his or her decision.” ► Lobbyists are the critical link between the actual interest group and the politicians. They are responsible for all direct communication between these two groups. ► It is not clear how successful lobbyists are. ► Lobbyists help politicians in 4 different ways: 1. They are an important source of information. 2. They can help politicians with political strategy for getting legislation through. 3. They can help formulate campaign strategy and get the group’s members behind a politicians reelection campaign. 4. They are a source of ideas and innovations.

11. How Interest Groups Work ► Electioneering – Lobbyist work best with people that are already on their side. Because of this, it is important to get and keep elected officials in office who support them. Electioneering refers to supporting candidates financially and physically during the elections. One of the ways this gets done is through political action committees (PAC’s). ► Under the Federal Election Campaign Act, an organization becomes a "political committee" by receiving contributions or making expenditures in excess of $1000 for the purpose of influencing a federal election. Federal Election Campaign ActFederal Election Campaign Act

12. How Interest Groups Work ► Federal PACs are limited in the amount of money that they can contribute to other organizations: ► at most $2,500 for individual PAC, $5,000 for multicandidate PAC per candidate per election. Elections such as primaries, general elections and special elections are counted separately. ► at most $15,000 for multicandidate PAC, $30800 for individual PAC per political party per year. ► at most $5,000 to another PAC per year. ► Under federal law, PACs are not limited in their ability to spend money independently of a candidate campaign. ► Individuals and any other organization or group may donate only $5000 a year to a PAC.

13. How Interest Groups Work ► Litigation – When an interest groups fails or succeeds in getting only a vague law passed, the next step is often litigation. This means that they use the court system to magnify the little success that they have had. The environment and civil rights are examples of interest groups that have successfully used litigation when congress failed them. ► Interest groups impact the courts in a few different ways. The most common way is with a lawsuit. Most federal laws come with provisions that permit individual or groups to sue for enforcement. Interest groups also produce amicus curiae briefs. These are written arguments submitted to the courts by a party not officially involved in a case. The last way interest groups use the courts is through class action lawsuits.

14. How Interest Groups Work ► Public Opinion – Public opinion is often slow in the way that it changes things, but ultimately it does make its way into politics. Because of this, successful interest groups will spend money working to influence public opinion. ► The impact of interests groups can often be seen in the high number of incumbents elected in each campaign.

15. Federal Election Campaign Act ► The major provisions of the 1971 Act and the 1974 amendment. Note that some provisions, including legal limits of contributions have been modified by subsequent Act. ► Requirement for candidates to disclose sources of campaign contributions and campaign expenditure. ► Federal Election Commission created. ► Public funding available for Presidential primaries and general elections. Legal limits on campaign expenditure for those that accept public funding. ► Legal limits on campaign contributions by individuals and organizations. ► Prohibition of campaign contributions directly from:  Corporations, Labor Organizations and National Banks  Government Contractors  Foreign Nationals  Cash Contributions over $100  Contributions in the Name of Another

16. Political Parties ► Political Party – team of people seeking to control the governing apparatus by gaining office in a duly constituted election.” ► Political Parties, the three headed monster. 1. The electorate – the largest component of the political party. This is the non-office/non-party official members of a political party. 2. Party as an organization – Parties have officials, offices, and staffs. The are responsible organizing events and elections. 3. Party in government – these are the members of a party who have been elected to positions in the government. This may be on the local or national level.

17. Tasks of the Parties ► Political parties are seen as linkage institutions. This means that they serve the role of transferring public opinion to elected officials to help form policy. There are 5 jobs that the political parties perform as linkage institutions. 1. Parties pick candidates – With rare exception, no one can be elected to office without the endorsement of a political party. The endorsement (nomination) is awarded through the primaries.

18. Task of the Parties 2. Parties run campaigns – parties help coordinate elections at all levels. 3. Parties give cues to voters – Often, voters identify themselves with a political party. They depend on that party for information about candidates and issues. 4. Parties articulate policies – Political parties advocate policies that are consistent with the party’s platform. 5. Coordinate policymaking – Parties work between the different branches of government to make sure their policy agenda can be advanced.

19. Downs model of Political Parties ► Political scientist Anthony Downs has developed a theory to explain how political parties function within society. Downs views the political landscape as a market place where parties compete for members by selling candidates and ideas. ► Because of this parties are forced to appeal to the largest number of people. The result is that mainstream parties are forced to advocate policies that are not seen as too radical. ► This ultimately means that the Democrats and the Republicans are remarkably alike. This may explain the sharp increase in the number of people labeling themselves as independents.

20. Independents ► There are several possible explanations for the increase in the number of registered independents. The most likely is a combination of the feeling that the Republicans and Democrats are essentially the same and will not offer any real opportunity for change, and the stigma of joining a third party. ► Ticket Splitting – This is when people vote for multiple parties while in the voting booth. This has reached an all time high and shows few signs of going down. The causes of this are the same as the shift to register as an independent.

21. Party Organization ► On the local level, parties have widely varying power. There influence is stronger in the larger cities. ► During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, many local parties in large cities formed party machines (political machines). These machines were highly organized and rewarded loyalty with some material benefit. This is very different than traditional political parties in America. Patronage was the most common form of reward. This is a job, promotion, or contract that was given to someone based on politics not merit. ► Cities like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Kansas City all had political machines.

22. William Tweed New York City Tammany Hall Richard Daley Chicago Tom Pendergast Kansas City

23. Party Organization ► The role of the political party is much more significant on the state level. Here, the parties are responsible for running the primaries and campaigns for state and national offices. ► Parties must decide between three different types of primaries. 1.Closed primaries only allow members of the political party participate in that party’s primary. 2. Open primaries allow voters to decide on election day which party’s primary they will participate in. 3. Blanket Primaries give voters a list of candidates from both political parties and the voters can mix and match their selections.

24. Party Organization ► National Level – On the national level, political parties are very important. They are responsible for organizing the national convention. The convention is where presidential candidates are officially selected and the party platforms are made. ► The parties are run by a National Chairperson –Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Reince Priebus.

25. Winning the Nomination ► The nomination is the official endorsement from a political party for office. This is usually a big issue for the presidential candidates. However, a few congressional elections, especially in states dominated by one political party, can have much importance placed on the nomination. ► The first step in getting the nomination is deciding to run. This is a big issue, in most industrialized nations campaigns are no more than 2 months long. In the US the process seems to get longer and longer. The entire time you are involved in the process, the more time you and your loved ones are put under the media microscope. This is why many people that would make a good president don’t run.

27. Lee Atwater

28. Winning the Nomination ► To win the nomination, a candidate must be officially voted on and win a majority of votes at the national party convention. ► Originally, each state selected the delegates to attend the national convention through a caucus. These delegates are pledged to vote for a specific person. These original caucuses were usually run by party bosses. These people selected who was able to attend the caucus and usually how they would vote. As time went on, the nomination process became more corrupt and the candidates were usually selected after a great deal of back room dealing.

29. Winning the Nomination ► The caucus system began to change with the disastrous 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. During the convention, protesters angry at the war and the lack of minority and female representation in the nomination process clashed with police. With the media there to cover the convention, there were plenty of witnesses to what was going on. Many blamed the Chicago police, under the control of Mayor Daley, for the violence. ► In response, the democrats agreed to form a committee to explore possible changes. The McGovern-Fraser Commission made several changes in time for the 1972 convention. Their recommendations mandated a minimum women and minorities should be delegates. They also required the nomination process become completely open. The result of this is that most states switched to the primary process.

30. Primaries ► After the changes made by the McGovern-Fraser commission, there was concern over a lack of involvement of the party leadership. This resulted in the creation of unpledged delegates in 1984. These are national party leaders who get automatically sent to the convention as a delegate. ► The Democratic party refers to the unpledged delegates as “superdelegates.” The Republican party still refers to them as unpledged delegates. For the Democrates, there are many more of these delegates than the Republicans have. In total, the superdelegates are about 20% of all the delegates in attendance at the convention. ► There are 5,556 delegates at the Democratic convention. While the Republicans have 2,288.

31. Problems with Primaries ► Frontloading – This is the tendency of most states to hold primaries early on to remain politically significant. In 2000, the candidates of both parties had been selected within 6 weeks of the New Hampshire primary. ► Prominent politicians find it difficult to take time off to run. ► Money plays too big a of a role in the primary. The nomination process is all about momentum, which means money is critical in getting the ball rolling. ► Participation in primaries is low and unrepresentative. ► The system gives too much power to the media.

32. McCain Feingold Act ► Although the Federal Election Campaign Act attempted to restrain campaign spending, two issue quickly developed that significantly weakened it. The Supreme Court case, Buckley v. Valeo, decided in 1976, stated that it was a violation of free speech to limit the amount of money someone spends on their own campaign and struck down limits on independent expenditures. Also, the idea of soft money was developed.

33. McCain Feingold Act ► Soft money is a donation that can be spent on general party costs or generic party ads. The act failed to put any limits on this type of donation. ► In 2002, the government attempted to close the soft money loop hole with the passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, also known as the McCain Feingold Act. ► The act banned soft money donations completely. It also increased the amount money an individual could donate to a candidate and indexed future increase on inflation. The last thing it did was ban issue ads within 60 days of the election from groups not funded by PACs.

34. McCain Feingold Act ► The groups targeted by McCain Feingold are known as 527 groups. They are named after the part of the IRS code they fall under. These groups had previously not been regulated by the Federal Election Commission because they do not directly advocate the election or defeat of an individual. ► With the ban on soft money, however, the result of McCain Feingold, at least temporarily, is an increase in the number of 527 groups. ► In Fall of 2004 after the elections, both political parties agreed to some regulation of these groups. The new regulations require 527 groups participating in federal campaigns to use at least 50% "hard money" (contributions regulated by the Federal Election Campaign Act) and provided for the FEC to examine representations made to donors, as well as actual expenditures of funds, to determine whether or not an organization qualified as having raised money "to influence a federal election."

35. Citizens United V. FEC ► No limits on independent expenditures by corporations or unions, thus creating Super PACs. ► Removed the restriction on ads before the election.

36. To each candidate or candidate committee per election To national party committee per calendar year To state, district & local party committee per calendar year To any other political committee per calendar year[1[1 Special limits Individual may give $2,500**$30,800**$10,000 (combined limit) $5,000$117,000*overall biennial limit:* $46,200*to all candidates* $70,800*to all PACs and parties[2]*[2] National Party Committee may give $5,000No limit $5,000$43,100* to Senate candidate per campaign[3]*[3] State, District & Local Party Committee may give $5,000 (combined limit) No limit $5,000 (combined limit) No limit PAC (multicandidate)[4 ] may give[4 ] $5,000$15,000$5,000 (combined limit) $5,000No limit PAC (not multicandidate) may give $2,500**$30,800**$10,000 (combined limit) $5,000No limit Authorized Campaign Committee may give $2,000[5][5]No limit $5,000No limit

37. Presidential Debates ► One of the more important parts of a campaign for many Americans is the Presidential Debate. The debates are a relatively new part of the campaign. ► Debates are an example of how the campaigns have become more candidate centered in modern times. ► The first debate was between Nixon and Kennedy in 1960. The next presidential debate took place in 1976. ► Originally, the League of Women voters organized the debates, but gave up the role as the two parties became more demanding. The Commission on Presidential Debates currently has this role. ► The impact of the debates has been debated. One debate that did impact things was the 1988 debate between Dukakis and Bush. The 2012 Republican debates are seen as critically important. Exit polls show 69% of voters said they were an important factor, with 86% saying they mattered.

38. Electoral College ► ► History – When the Constitution was written, the framers thought that it was reckless to allow the general public to select the president. After much discussion, it was decided that the state legislators should select a small group of well educated and respected people that would vote for the president. Article II section 1 of the US Constitution states that each state legislature has the authority to decide how their state selects electors. However, since 1828, most states have used popular vote to determine the slate of electors.

39. Electoral College

40. ► ► Number of electors – Currently there are 538 electors. The number of electors each state has is based on the number of people they have in congress. This means that each state is guaranteed at least three electors. The 23 rd Amendment states that even though Washington DC has no congressional representation, they are allowed to have the number of electors they would have if they were a state, but no more than the state with the least number of electors. ► ► For most states, the candidate who receives a plurality of the vote wins all of the electoral college votes. In Maine and Nebraska, electoral college votes are proportionally divided up.

41. Electoral College ► ► Most states use what is known as a “short ballot.” This means that only the presidential and vice presidential candidates are on the ballot. A few states still use the old method of listing the slate of electors on the ballot. Some states require a write in vote to be accompanied with a list of possible electors for that candidate. ► ► Electors meet at their respective state capitals on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December to cast congress their votes. These votes are sent to and are counted in January when the new secession of congress begins.