Political Science American Government and Politics

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Political Science American Government and
Politics

• Chapter 9
• Campaigns, Nominations and Elections and The Media

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Why Do People Run for Office?

• to further their careers
• to carry out specific political programs or
  policies
• to in response to certain issues or events
• Who Is Eligible to Run for Office
• there are few eligibility requirements to run for
  most U.S. offices
• President

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Who Is Eligible to Run for Office

• must be a natural born citizen
• must be 35 years old
• must be a resident of the country for 14 years
  before inauguration
• Vice President
• must be a natural born citizen
• must be 35 years old
• must not be a resident of the same state as the
  presidential candidate

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Who Is Eligible to Run for Office (cont.)

• Senate
• must be a citizen for at least nine years
• must be 30 years old
• must be a resident of the state from which
  elected
• Representative
• must be a citizen for at least seven years
• must be 25 years old
• must be a resident of the state from which
  elected

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Characteristics of Campaigns in the Twenty-First
Century

• longer campaigns than in past times
• greater emphasis on funds
• lesser emphasis on political parties
• greater reliance on political consultants, who
  are hired to devise a campaign strategy
• greater emphasis on candidate visibility, or name
  recognition

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Regulating Campaign Finance

• Federal Corrupt Practices Act of 1925
• limited election expenses for candidates
• required disclosures
• was ineffective because of its many loopholes
• The Hatch Act of 1939
• prohibited groups from spending more than 3
  million in a campaign
• limited individual contributions to committees to
  5,000

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Regulating Campaign Finance (cont.)

• designed to end influence peddling
• Federal Election Campaign Act of 1972
• restricted mass media expenditures
• limited contributions by candidate and family
  members
• required disclosure of all contributions over
  100
• provided 1 voluntary check-off for presidential
  campaigns on federal income tax form

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Regulating Campaign Finance (cont.)

• Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974
• created the Federal Election Commission
• provided public financing of presidential
  elections
• limited presidential election campaign spending
• limited contributions

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Regulating Campaign Finance (cont.)

• required disclosure of contributions and
  expenditures
• allowed corporations, unions and special interest
  to establish political action committees (1976
  amendment)
• Buckley v. Valeo (1976) declared the 1972
  limitation on what an individual could spend on
  his or her own election unconstitutional

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Beyond Campaign Finance Law

• soft money the Supreme Court said that party
  building activities (like voter registration
  drives) should be encouraged, thus allowing
  unlimited and unregulated contributions to
  political parties

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Soft Money Raised by Political Parties
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Beyond Campaign Finance Law (cont.)

• independent expenditures are nonregulated funds
  spent by individuals or interest groups on
  advertising or other campaign activities that are
  not coordinated with any candidates expenditures
• bundling is the practice of adding together
  maximum individual contributions and presenting
  them to the candidate together to maximize their
  impact

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What is a Presidential Primary?

• a statewide primary election of delegates to a
  partys national convention to help a party
  determine its presidential nominee
• Types of Presidential Primaries
• closed primary only voters who are declared
  party members can vote in that partys primary
• open primary voters can vote in either party
  primary without disclosing their party
  affiliation

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What is a Presidential Primary? (cont.)

• blanket primary voters can vote in primary
  elections for candidates of more than one party
  (a Democrat for the presidential nominee and a
  Republican for the Senate nominee, for example)
• run-off primary if no candidate receives a
  majority in the first primary, some states
  require a second primary between the top two
  candidates

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The Electoral College

• Electors in the Electoral College actually elect
  the president and vice president of the United
  States
• the numbers of electors in each state in equal to
  that states number of representatives in both
  houses of Congress
• electors typically cast their votes for the
  candidate that receives the plurality of votes in
  that state
• because of the winner take all system of the
  electoral college, it typically serves to
  exaggerate the popular margin of victory

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How Presidents and Vice Presidents Are Chosen
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Why Dont People Vote?

• political withdrawal fewer citizens feel
  involved enough in their community to be
  interested in voting
• rational ignorance people choose not to inform
  themselves on issue because they do not believe
  their vote is likely to be a deciding factor
• campaign effects the length of campaigns and
  negative advertising may drive voters away

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Factors that Influence How People Vote

• education
• income and socioeconomic status
• religion
• ethnic background
• gender
• age
• geographic region

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Factors that Influence How People Vote (cont.)

• psychological factors
• party identification
• perception of the candidates
• issue preferences

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Voter Turnout for Presidential and Congressional
Elections, 1086 to Present
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The Media Functions in the United States

• entertainment
• reporting the news
• identifying public problems
• setting the public agenda
• socializing new generations
• providing a political forum
• making profits

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History of the Media in the United States

• The Rise of the Political Press
• politically sponsored newspapers
• the era of managed news
• The Development of Mass Readership Newspapers
• development of the telegraph
• increased urbanization

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History of the Media in the United States (cont.)

• The Beginning of the Electronic Media
• Changes in the Electronic Media
• narrowcasting
• the internet
• talk show politics

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Where Americans Get Their News
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The Media and Political Campaigns

• advertising
• the management of news coverage (spin)
• presidential debates
• the medias impact on voters

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Spots Aired by the Parties in the Top Ten Media
Markets
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The Media and Government

• the Media and the Presidency
• the role of the White House Press Corps
• the role of the Presidents Press Secretary
• Setting the Public Agenda

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Bad News About Presidential Candidates Increases
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Government Regulation of the Media

• controlling ownership
• controlling content
• equal time rule
• personal attack rule
• Versus
• the Publics Right to Media Access
• The FCC and the Courts are gradually
  acknowledging citizens right to media access

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U.S. Households with Personal Computers and
Internet Connections