Electoral & Media

Quickwrite… “Any American who cannot bother to vote and who thinks that a single vote does not matter is letting America down.” – Marian Wright Edelman (1992) Do you believe this is true? Why or why not? In a democracy, where people have a choice, do you believe that people have the right not to vote?

The Nominating Process Nomination: Naming of person seeking office Self-Announcement Caucus: Select group that nominates Convention Direct Primary Open: Anyone can vote regardless of party Closed: Only party members can vote Petition Primary vs General Election Nonpartisan Election No party labels; EX: school board, city office

Opened vs Closed Primary Good: Independents can vote, Voters not forced to make party declaration Bad: “raid” primary, undercuts party loyalty Closed: Good: Cannot “raid” primary, candidates responsive to party/platform/members Bad: Ballot not secret, excludes independents

Elections Administered by states Super Tuesday: Tuesday after the 1st Monday in November Congressional & Presidential Elections

Precincts & Ballots Precinct: Voting district Sample ballots distributed ahead of time Ballot Printed at public expense Lists candidates in election Given out only at polls, one per person Marked in secret

Automated Voting Mechanical machines outdated New electronic machines Punch card ballots elimination due to Florida issues in 2000 election b/t Bush & Gore Touch screen applications Paper ballots counted by computers

E-Voting Quickwrite: Do you believe that voting via Internet is a good idea? What are the benefits? What are the downfalls? Obstacles?

Sources of Funding Private Public Small amount contributors, $5-$10 Wealthy families/individuals Candidates themselves PACS (Political Action Committee): interest group financial backing Fundraisers Public Subsidy: Public funding that a candidate chooses to have, but has limits/strings attached

Campaign Spending Presidential race: currently $2.5 Billion Congressional race: currently $1.5 Billion Laws in place to limit money use in federal campaigns

Federal Election Commission Disclosure requirements No cash gifts over $100 No foreign donation Contributions must be recorded Limits on Contributions An Individual: $2600 per candidate, $32,400 to national party, $10,000 to state/local party committee, $5,000 to any other political committee $48K limit to all candidates, $74,600 limit PACS/party PAC Contribution

  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 Special Limits Individual may give $2,600 $32,400 $10,000 (combined limit) $5,000 $123,200 overall biennial limit: $48,600 to all candidates $74,600 to all PACs and parties National Party Committee may give No limit $45,400 to Senate candidate per campaign State, District & Local Party Committee may give $5,000 (combined limit) PAC (multicandidate) may give $15,000 PAC (not multicandidate) may give Campaign Committee $2,000

Federal Election Commission Congress tried to limit spending w/FEC Supreme Court ruled that limits inhibit free speech; “Money is Speech”

Public Funding of Presidential Candidate Spending limits if candidate accepts FEC $ $37.3 Million preconvention limit, $74.6 Million general election limit, $15 Million limit on party’s national committee This would DRASTICALLY alter spending habits Major parties never take FEC money as a result.

Hard Money vs Soft Money Hard Money donations regulated by FEC Soft Money donations were not regulated Funds given to party organization “Party-Building Activities” Candidate recruitment, voter registration, issue drives Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 Cannot contribute soft money to party, but you can to other ‘political groups’

Soft Money Ad Example Candidate X runs an ad that says, "I am a good person. Candidate Y is a bad person. Vote for me on election day." Because of the "Vote for me..." portion, this is a political ad, which must be paid for with "hard money." Candidate Y runs an ad that says, "Candidate X has a record that includes awful things. If these awful things continue, people will come to your house, steal your money and shoot your dog. Be sure to vote on election day." Because the ad "educates" people on an issue and doesn't tell them to vote for a particular candidate, it's party building, and can be paid for by soft money.

Media

Quickwrite… “When you control opinion, as corporate America controls opinion in the United States by owning the media, you can make the masses believe almost anything you want, and you can guide them as you please.” – Gore Vidal Do you believe that the Media controls and is able to alter public opinion and shape people’s ideas? From a scale from 1 through 10 (10 being the highest), how influential is the Media? Why do you think that is?

Public Opinion Public Opinion: Beliefs held by a significant # of people about gov’t/politics Public Affairs: Issues related to politics/policies

Factors on Public Opinion Family Age, Race, Income, Occupation, Residency, Gender Schools Mass Media Internet, Newspapers/Magazines, Television, Radio Peer Groups Friends, Classmates, Co-workers, Community Opinion Leaders Historic Events

How To Measure Public Opinion Election Results Interest Groups Media Personal Contacts Ex: Emailing/Mailing Congress Polls Straw Poll: Same question, large # of people

Polling Process 1. Defining the population to be polled 2. Select a Sample from your population 3. Prepare valid questions 4. Interview your Sample representatives 5. Analyze/Report your findings

Media Sources Television Radio Newspapers Magazines CBS, ABC, NBC control 90% of programming for 700 local stations; 45% of television viewing Comedy Shows w/news Radio Talk Radio; National Public Radio (NPR) Newspapers Magazines Internet (including social media)

Public Agenda Media’s influences agenda Gets people interested in certain topics Which gets politicians involved w/those topics

Quickwrite “Multinational corporations do control. They control the politicians. They control the media. They control the pattern of consumption, entertainment, thinking. They're destroying the planet and laying the foundation for violent outbursts and racial division.” – Jerry Brown, CA Governor Do you feel that this statement is accurate? Why or why not? How does the media “control” politicians and how are they supposedly destroying the planet?