11 19 15 LECTURE 21 Current Events Paris Attacks Syrian Refugees Police kill Abaaoud ringleader in raid in Paris suburb o Abaaoud s cousin woman who detonated a suicide vest also died Abdeslam still at large believed to be in Brussels 28 of people want presidents refugee plan Public opinion is opposed to admitting refugees into the US Since 9 11 U S has admitted 1 5 million refugees and immigrants from ME o Multiple background checks fingerprinting database searches biometric screens o Screenings by FBI o In person interviews o Process takes 18 24 months o But without US presence on the ground we can t be certain o Moreover all of the identified Paris attackers were European citizens Europeans can travel to US for 90 days without visa visa waver program house has approved bill on Syrian and Iraqi refugees o would not change may of procedures currently in place but would also require that FBI and DHS to certify that the refugee is not a threat to US security this gives congress cover if something goes wrong unclear if FBI and DHS would make that certification so could effectively stop all refugees o Passed with all Republicans and 47 Democrats voting in favor of it bi partisan Reflection of Public Opinion o WH issued a veto threat President continues to defend his plan to admit 10 000 Syrian refugees Presidential Race Jindal Drops out Trump gains political strength since attacks Carson slumps Bush calls for ground troops LECTURE Presidential Election Campaign Fund Component of the FECA that s still intact Only applies to President not house or senate 2 tracks o Primary nomination o General election To qualify for primary financing o Raise 5000 in 250 increments in 20 states To qualify for General election financing o Must be the major party nominee If qualify have choice to accept or reject public funding for either of the 2 tracks If accept for nomination o Government will match money for the amount of money that you raise o Have to abide to a spending cap 40M for primary If accept for GE o Government will give candidate a grant of 85M o Cannot spend more than the grant Candidates don t have to accept the federal funds o If decline then not beholden to spending limits o But still have to adhere to hard money contribution limits Public financing of President Elections In 2008 Obama rejected public financing for the primary and General Election o Was the first major party nominees to decline it for the General Election since 1974 Both candidates rejected it in 2012 o End of public financing system Electoral College The founding fathers were weary of the enlightenment of the public and direct democracy o Curtail power of largest and most populous states o Increase influence of most knowledgeable and informed o Select the president based on merit o Minimize influence of state of origin and political party Feared that state legislatures would elect the favorite son from their state o President needs enough popular support to govern the whole country Each state has as many electoral college votes as it does senators and members of congress o TX 36 congressman 2 senators 38 votes Since every state has at least one member of congress 2 senators each has at least 3 electoral votes In total there are 538 electoral congress votes 435 congress 100 senate 3 Washington DC Need a majority of Electoral college vote to win president 270 When you vote you re not voting directly for the presidential candidate o You are voting for individuals who are representatives for the candidates electors Send electors of Obama or Romney to your state capitol to vote in December How do you become an elector o Parties select them in state party conventions or through appointment by state party leaders o Usually activists for the presidential candidate Each state s electors meet in their state capitals and cast their electoral votes In December Possibility for faithless electors o Elector may vote for different person intentionally or accidentally or may not vote at all in protest The electoral votes are sealed and sent to the president of the Senate o Opened before a joint session of Congress in January Activities in December in state capitol and in January in Congress are pro forma We know who is going to be elected president usually the night of the election We know who s going to win because we know o Who has won a plurality of the popular vote in the state o Plurality most votes NOT majority o We know whose electors are going to the states capitol in December o We know that most of the time electors behave as they should aren t faithless The candidate with the most popular votes plurality in the state gets to send their electors to state capitol o Means that the candidate wins ALL of the state s electoral college votes Even if a candidate gets less than a majority in the popular votes for a state they win all of the electoral college votes for the states o Except ME and NE The states electoral college votes can be split by CD Called winner take all WTA Electoral Results by State Because candidates only need to be the plurality popular vote winner in the state to win all the states electoral college votes winner take all manufactures majorities o 1984 Election o 1992 Election o 2000 Election Reagan won 97 6 of Electoral college votes But only 58 8 of popular votes nationally to Mondale s 40 6 Clinton won 68 8 of electoral college votes But only 43 3 of popular vote nationally to Bush s 37 4 and Perot s 19 Bush won 50 4 of electoral college votes But only 47 9 of popular vote nationally to Gore s 48 4 Don t need a majority of popular vote nationally or even the most popular votes nationally to be declared president o Don t need a plurality of the national popular vote All that matters is that you win a majority of electoral college votes Electoral College Why do we elect the president this way Why not move to a system that is based more on the national popular vote This is what the founding fathers wanted To change the election procedures would require amending the constitution o Proposal o Ratification 2 3 vote in house and senate Application from 2 3 of states vote of state legislatures vote of ratifying conventions Could this ever happen o No states would not give up power when they are benefitting from it Consequences for where Candidate Campaign Sparsely populated states are over represented by the electoral college o Every state gets at least 3 electoral college votes regardless of population size But
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