Essential Question: How does citizen involvement play a part in a functioning democracy and what responsibilities do “good” citizens have?

Learning Target: Compare how different parties and party systems best represent the needs of the people.

Political Parties  (def.) – group of citizens with similar views on public issues  Work together to put their ideas in action  Nominate candidates

Two-Party system  two main political parties in U.S.  U.S. has hundreds of smaller parties  Democrats v. Republicans  share almost equal strength since Civil War  Both parties try to attract as many voters as possible  Neither wants to be considered too ‘extreme’ and scare voters over to the “other side”

Democrats  Liberal – favoring gradual reform to extend democracy, distribute wealth more evenly, and protect individuals personal freedoms (Encarta Dictionary on-line)  believes that the government should have more control of the people  Social programs – welfare, social security, etc.

Republicans  Conservative – in favor of preserving traditional values and customs, and against abrupt change  Wants to reduce the power of the federal government  Social programs should be created by state and local governments

 Multi-party systems – more than 2 strong political parties  Coalition (def.) - Two or more political parties must agree to compromise & work together  If a coalition that is in control breaks apart because of disagreement the government is often left weakened.  One-party systems – single party controls the gov’t  Law usually forbids all other political parties

Party Organization  Political parties exist to nominate and elects candidates to office  Must be organized at national, state and local levels with committees  Committees are headed by a chairperson

National & State Committees  largest party committee  National chairperson is typically chosen by party presidential candidate  Chooses date & location for party’s national convention  2012 Democrats – Charlotte, North Carolina  2012 Republicans – Tampa, Florida  State committees organize party campaigns within their state  Chairperson is often a member of the national committee

Local Organization  Committees are responsible for all local campaigns  All counties, cities, etc. are divided into voting districts (precints)  All voters within one precinct vote at the same polling place.  

Financing Campaigns  2008 presidential election (cnn.com)  Obama - $639,174,281  McCain - $306,167,823  Voters, business groups, labor unions, etc. all contribute to political parties  Campaign Contributions are limited by several laws aimed at reform  Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA)  Candidates must report the name of every individual that contributes more than $200  Individual contributions $2,100

Public Financing  Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) – 1972  Created a Presidential election campaign fund  American’s can contribute $3 of taxes to the election fund  Money is distributed to candidates  Presidential candidate trying to win nomination must first raise $5,000 in private contributions from at least 20 states  After winning the nomination presidential candidates may only use public funding or private funding, not both.

Becoming a voter  U.S. citizens may vote in national, state and local elections when 18  Cannot be denied based on race, color, sex  Voter registration protects your right to vote  No one can vote more than once, or claim to have someone vote for them  Voters may register as members of a political parties or as an independent

Elections  Primary elections – late spring or early summer  Choose party candidates that will run later  Closed primary – only voters registered with the party may choose party candidates  Open primary – voters may vote for candidates of either major party  General elections – leaders chosen from choices offered by political parties  Date set by Congress – 1 st Tuesday after the 1 st Monday of November  Presidential – every 4 yrs.  Congressional – every 2 yrs.

Voting  Early 1800’s – voice vote (out loud)  1888 – secret ballot – paper with candidates names listed on it  Punch cards, direct recording electronic, etc.  Law requires that employers give employees time to go vote  Straight ticket voting – voting for all the candidates of one party  Split ticket voting – voting for candidates of more than one political party

SQ3R 3 things that really interested you 2 questions 1 theme or main concept

Chapter 10 Section 4 Nominating & Electing leaders

Has the presidential candidate ever won the popular vote and not been elected president by the Electoral College?

 1876 – Rutherford B. Hayes v. Samuel J. Tilden  1888 – Benjamin Harrison v. Grover Cleveland  2000 – George Bush v. Al Gore CandidatePopular VoteElectoral College George Bush50,456, Al Gore50,999,897266

Electoral College  popular vote – vote of the citizens of a country  Electors – people chosen from each state and the District of Columbia to formally select the President & Vice-President  538 electors  Each state has same # of electors as members of Congress  District of Columbia has 3 representatives

 Before election  Political party selects electors who promise to vote for party’s presidential candidate  Example:  If a Dem. wins a majority of a states votes, the democratic electors cast the states electoral votes  Electors are not required by law to vote for the parties candidate

 Few weeks after the election the electors meet and cast their ballots.  Results are sent to and counted by Congress  Candidate that receives the majority – over 270 – becomes president  If no candidate receives a majority of the votes the House of Representatives chooses from 3 top candidates  Congress has only had to choose twice – 1800, 1824

Nomination Process  Party nominating conventions are held the summer before an election  Each state sends delegates to nat. convention to nominate candidates for Pres. and V.P.  Delegates vote for parties candidates  Parties try to win support for their platform and candidate  Platform (def.) – statement on the parties views and beliefs