POLS Chapter 6 Book Notes 9 30 12 Primer on Political Parties Political parties assistance o Recruit candidates for offices and provide them with support for their campaigns o Give candidates money or help them to raise it and offer logistical and strategic o Help coordinate a candidate s message with those of other candidates running for other offices under the party s banner Democrats o Evolved from factional splits Groups that struggle to control the message within a party A party may be split into competing regional factions Originally led by Thomas Jefferson who opposed Hamilton s Federalists Republicans o Party split into northern and southern Democrats o Currently dominate in the west and northeast o Grand Old Party GOP o Formed in 1854 in opposition to slavery o Replaced the Whig Party o Currently dominate in the south and plains states Political parties don t choose their candidate Voters choose the party s nominee in primaries Swing voters Individuals who are not consistently loyal to candidates of any one party They are true independents whose allegiance is fought in every election o Farmers o Suburban voters o Elderly Candidate centered politics Politics in which candidates promote themselves and their own campaigns rather than relying on party organizations o Parties play less of a role of determining who is going to run for office Ex Arnold Schwarzenegger running for governor in 2003 Voter identification When a voter consistently identifies strongly with one of the parties and can be considered for example a Democrat or Republican o Declining Politics generally centers more around individual candidates Responsible party model The theory that political parties offer clear policy choices to voter try to deliver on those policies when they take office and are held accountable by voters for the success or failure of those policies What Parties Were Like People s party loyalties were extremely strong because their livelihoods revolved around party interests Political machines Political organizations controlled by a small number of people and run for partisan ends they controlled party nominations for public office and rewarded supporters with government jobs and contracts Patronage Ability of elected officials or party leaders to hand out jobs to their friends and supporters rather than hiring people based on merit o States with little patronage Alabama Florida Michigan had little need for a political Nonpartisan ballots Ballots that do not list candidates by political party still often used in local machine elections o Direct result of reforms imposed in reaction to political machines o Designed to separate city government from party voting Parties in the Twentieth Century Political machines were generally locally based State parties lost much of their influence because of the rise of primary elections General elections The decisive elections in which all registered voters cast ballots for their preferred candidates for a political office Parties used to choose nominees through party conventions Meetings of party delegates called to nominate candidates for office and establish party agendas Three types of direct primaries o Closed primaries Nominating elections in which only voters belonging to that party may Helps prevent crossover voting Members of one party voting in another party s participate primary Not allowed in all states party affiliation o Open primaries Election races that are open to all registered voters regardless of their California Democratic Party v Jones 2000 invalidated blanket primaries Voters could vote in one party s primary and then switch and vote in another party s primary Louisiana is the only state with something close to a blanket primary o Runoff primary An election held if no candidate receives a majority of the vote during the regular primary The two top finishers face off again in a runoff to determine the nominee for the general election Such elections are held in some states primarily in the south How State Parties Recovered Campaign Reform in the Late Twentieth Century Increasing use of campaign ads by candidates has led to restored strength for state and national political parties Evolved into important consulting organizations Have a full time chair or executive director that handle o Fund raising o Communications o Field operations o Campaigns shot at winning Republican parties tend to be better funded and therefore run better Help interested groups and potential contributors determine which candidates have a realistic Help register voters and conduct get out the vote campaigns Dealignment When no one party can be said to dominate politics in this country o Ex Republican dominance from the Civil War until the 1920 s and then the Democratic New Deal coalition which held power from the presidential election of 1932 until the 1960 s Realignment When popular support switches from one party to another o Ex Election of Franklin D Roosevelt in 1932 State Party Regulation Political parties are viewed as public utilities 28 states and D C register voters by party because party names are printed alongside those of their candidates on ballots 38 states regulate aspects of the structure of the parties to avoid antidemocratic machine boss control Campaign Finance Independent expenditures Ad campaigns or other political activities that are run by a party or an outside group without the direct knowledge or approval of a particular candidate for office o Supreme court said that they can t restrict these Political action committees PAC s Groups formed for the purpose of raising money to elect or defeat political candidates They usually represent business union or ideological interests o 1979 congress lifted all restrictions of the amount of money candidates could collect from individuals and PAC s Soft money Money not subject to federal regulation that can be raised and spent by state parties o 2002 McCain Feingold campaign finance law Banned the use of soft money in federal elections Party Competition Why Some States Are More Competitive than Others Decline of one party dominance o Increased mobility of the American population Republicans control every statewide office in Texas Effect of Parties on Political Culture Politicians and parties reward constituents with policies or promises o Ex Senior citizens are promised prescriptions through Medicare Each party can only appeal so much to an interest group without alienating support among other
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