1 Chapter Ten Elections and Campaigns

2 Getting Elected Get Mentioned Tell people, off the record, that you’re thinking of running Travel about making speeches Be famous Get identified with a famous piece of legislation Be a governor

3 Getting Elected Money Organization Theme 2008 Presidential Election President Obama $730 million Senator McCain $330 million 2010 Wisconsin US Senate Seat: Senator Johnson $14 million Senator Feingold $13 million Republican Super PACs $2,318,139 Democratic Super PACs $127,417

4 Presidential v. Congressional Campaigns There is more voter participation in presidential campaigns (60% v 40%) Presidential races are more competitive than House races greengop.org Obama 53% - McCain 46% Bush 51% - Kerry 48% Sensenbrenner 70% Ryan 68% (Incumbents typically win with over 60% of the vote )

Theme Incumbents: Defend Challenger: Attack Tone: +/- Theme: Change/Stay the Course Target: Who’ll vote for your/who can you stop from voting for you opponent? 5

6 Presidential v. Congressional Campaigns Lower turnout in off years means that candidates must appeal to more motivated and partisan voters Members of Congress can do things for their constituents that the President cannot – (roads, defense contracts, district benefits) cmcforum.com

Presidential v. a Congressional Campaigns Members of Congress can distance themselves from the “mess in Washington” (It’s not me, it’s “them”.) Presidential coattails have declined 7 politicalparade.com

Primary v General Elections Primary Elections – choose the party’s nominee (Some states have Presidential caucuses) General Elections – select the winner who will hold office 8

9 Funding for Congressional Elections Private funding Most money comes from individual small donors ($100–$200 a person) $2,400 maximum for individual donors $5,000 limit for PACs, but most give just a few hundred dollars Challengers must supply much of their own money lifehack.org

10 Congressional Elections Incumbents have an extraordinary advantage – and no term limits in Congress(Close to 90% are re- elected to office) Each state has two senators; number of House representatives based on state population, as determined by the census – Max. 435 members

11 Drawing District Boundaries Malapportionment: districts have very different populations, so the votes in the less-populated district “weigh more” than those in the more-populated district – illegal violates one person, one vote Gerrymandering: boundaries are drawn to favor one party rather than another, resulting in odd-shaped districts bluenc.com

12 Staying in Congress Members gear their offices to help individual constituents (Intercede when a voter is having a problem with a government agency.) Committee members secure tax dollars for the district blog.taxguru.net

Staying in Congress Get appointed to the right committees (Agriculture, Manufacturing, Budget, Ways and Means) Members must decide to what extent to be delegates ( to do what the district wants) v trustees (to use their independent judgment) 13

14 Review Qualifications for Entering Congress p. 238 Kinds of Elections p. 241

Campaign Issues Position Issues – rival candidates have opposing views which also divide the candidates – Gay Marriage Abortion, Drugs Valence Issues – issues that the public agrees upon, but the candidate must carve out a separate position – Health Care, Defense, Crime, Economy 15

Campaigning If the candidate is ahead, limit the debates. Desire is to avoid slips of the tongue. Most campaign speeches are a stock speech (stump speech). Guarantees applause and avoids misspeaking. Direct mail and now the internet have become two of the best ways to raise money. Relatively low cost and the candidate can target their audience 16

17 Voter Behavior Most voters who switch parties do so in their own interests Prospective (future performance) voting is used by relatively few voters Retrospective (past performance) voting is practiced by most voters, and decides most elections

18 Coalitions Democratic coalition: African Americans, Jews, Hispanics (not Cuban) Catholics, southerners and union members are leaving the Democrats Republican coalition: business and professional people, farmers, social conservatives (Southern Baptist – born again Christians)

19 Partisan Division of Presidential Vote, Updated from Historical Data Archive, Inter-University Consortium for Political Research, as reported in William H. Flanigan and Nancy H. Zingale, Political Behavior of the American Electorate, 3rd ed., 32.

20 Do Elections Make a Difference in Policy? For many Americans, elections do make differences in policy But the constitutional system generally moderates the pace of change – Founding Fathers intended this to happen – politics is the art of compromise

If pro is the opposite of con….. What is the opposite of Congress???? 21