Bell ringer The 1974 FCRA limited individual donations to $ ____________ per candidate. These are called _________ donations. T/F - Incumbents rely on donations from PACs and challengers rely on their own money PAC donations to parties are called _______ donations.

Lesson 1 Political Parties

Challenge Questions: 1. What was the political party of both presidents that have been impeached? 2. Who were these presidents? Ch. 7 Reading Quiz

Objectives Agenda Political Parties Define political party and identify structures. Explain the decline of political parties. Describe the structure of a major party. Ch. 7 reading quiz Warm up - GW’s farewell address Political Parties - notes Start HW: APA citation practice

Warm up Read the excerpt from George Washington’s Farewell Address. What does he say are the problems with political parties? What was GW concerned about when he said, “Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.” Use your vocab!

1& 2 What is a Political Party? A group that seeks to elect candidates to public office by supplying them with a label- a “party identification” by which they are known to the electorate. Label in the mind of the voters Organization that recruits and campaigns for candidates Set of leaders who try to organize and control the executive and legislative branches of government People’s link to the government

Strong vs. Weak Party Strong party: Elaborate & well-disciplined organization that provides money and workers to its candidates. Label has a strong appeal for the voters. Organization can decide who will be candidates & how their campaigns will be managed Leaders can dominate one or all branches of government. Weak party: supplying nothing but the label to the candidate.

3. US vs. European Political Parties USAEurope

Parties in the United States … 1. Decentralized power: political authority is decentralized and shared among federal, state and local parties. US DEMOCRATIC PARTY Virginia Libertarians Loudoun Republicans 2. Patronage (who controls city hall/ courthouse, etc.) has declined 3. Lack of power over candidates Primary voters select candidates Parliamentary System: Parliamentary party in power chooses executive Sometimes you vote for a party, not an individual, OR candidates within the same party for the same position 5. Officials don’t always vote w/party Jim Marshall “The man is trying to divorce her and take all her money” 6. Changes in campaign finance – how have these weakened the party?

Check for understanding What does the party do at the national level? What does the party do at the state level? Do you think parties should have more power? Why or why not?

Party in Government Congressional Party Congressional campaign committees Support the party’s congressional candidates Speaker of the House/Minority Leader Senate Majority/Minority Leaders Party Leaders Committee Assignments/Chairs Presidential Party State & Local Parties

5. National Party Structure Today National Convention Ultimate power, meets every four years to nominate the presidential/VP candidates & ratify platform 2008 Democratic conventionDemocratic convention 2008 Republican conventionRepublican convention National Committee Composed of delegates from each state & territory; manages party business between conventions National Chairpersons FT manager of party’s daily work, spokesperson Elected by national committee DNC: Debbie Wasserman Schultz RNC: Reince Preibus e-wasserman-schultz-reince-priebus-face-off.html

Delegates Today Party delegates are individual chosen to represent their states at their party conventions prior to presidential election. Rule for selecting delegates are dictated by the parties. Vary by party, state, and sometime congressional district.

Differences in parties in terms of structure DemocratsRepublicans Factionalized, redistributed power DNC learned from RNC Advantage in “new media”, moveon.org, social media Bureaucratic structure, Well financed Computerized mailing lists to raise money- national firm of political consultants

6. Nominating Conventions 1972 McGovern changes (McGovern-Fraiser commission of the Democratic Party National Committee) Followed 1968 convention & Nixon election Goal: to make nominating process represent the voters Established set of written rules: limit participation fees $10, public notice of meeting, eliminated proxy voting & unit rule, steps towards better representation by race and gender An unforeseen result: many states go to primary elections to select convention delegates, instead of caucuses (both parties)

1981 Hunt Commission (Democratic Party) Many felt the reforms went too far Wanted to increase the influence of elected officials who were “uncommitted” Give people w/vested interest a stake in the nomination Super delegates – party officials & Democratic congressman Super-delegates”& state delegates nominate the party’s candidate for President at the National Convention Super delegates now about 20% of convention delegates

Super Delegates (aka unpledged delegates) Delegate to the Democratic National Convention or Republican National Convention that is seated automatically, based on their status as current (Republican and Democratic) or former (Democratic only) party leader or elected official. Other superdelegates are chosen during the primary season. All the superdelegates are free to support any candidate for the nomination.

What is the difference between a delegate and a super delegate? Check for understanding

Political Parties ClosureHomework 3 functions of a political party 2 difference between parties in US & Europe 1 new vocabulary word APA citation practice