Hank Chau

AP U.S Government
November 26, 2015
Gareth Manning
Chapter 8 Outline
Political Parties, Candidates, and Campaigns: Defining the voters choice:
1. Political party is an ongoing coalition of interest joined together in an effort to get its
candidates for public office elected under a common label.
a. Party centered: Democrats and Republicans compete across the country
election after election.
b. Candidate centered: In the sense that individual candidates devise their own
strategies, choose their own issues, and form their own campaign
organizations.
i. Political competition in the United States has centered on two parties, a
pattern that is explained by the nature of Americas electoral system,
political institutions, and political culture.
ii. To win an electoral majority, candidates of the two major parties must
appeal to a diverse set of interests.
iii. U.S party organizations are decentralized and fragmented.
iv. The ability of Americas party organizations to control nominations
and election to office is weak, which strengthens the candidates role.
v. Candidate-centered campaigns are based on money and media and
utilize the skills of professional consultants.
2. Party Competition and Majority Rule: The History of U.S Parties.
a. Linkage institutions: Serve to connect citizens with government.
b. Party competition: Narrows voters options to two and in the process enables
people with different backgrounds and opinions to act together.
c. The First Parties: Hamilton organized the Federalists
d. Andrew Jackson and Grassroots Parties: It was organized chiefly at the local
level and was open to all citizens, The efforts of the local party organizations,
along with the extension of voting rights to citizens during the 1830s.
e. Republicans vs. Democrats: Realignments and the Enduring Party System:
Republican and Democrat parties have organized themselves with new bases
of support, new policies, and new public philosophies.
i. The emergence of unusually powerful and divisive issues
ii. An election contest or contests in which the voters shift their partisan
support
iii. An enduring change in the parties policies and coalitions
f. The Nature and Origins of Todays Party Alignment: Party realignment slowly
loses strength as the issues that gave rise to it decline in importance.
g. Parties and the Vote: The power of party is at no time clearer than when
elections after elections, Republican and Democratic candidates reap the vote
of their partys identifiers.
3. Electoral and Party Systems:
a. Two-party system: Federalists versus Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans.
b. Multiparty system: Three or more parties have the capacity to gain control of
the government, separately or in coalition.

c. The Plurality (Single-Member-District) System of Election:

i. Officials win through plurality voting
ii. Plurality System: Winner-take-all-system
iii. Proportional representation system: seats in the Legislature are
allocated according to a partys share of the popular vote.
d. Politics and Coalitions in the Two-Party System: Democrats and Republicans
can win consistently only by attracting majority support.
e. Median Voter Theorem: If there are two parties, the parties can maximize their
vote only if they position themselves at the location of the median voter.
i. Balance of power in American elections sometimes rests with the
moderate voters in the center rather than with those who hold more
extreme positions.
f. Party Coalitions: The groups and interests that support a party are collectively
referred to as the party coalition.
g. Gender gap: Democratic Party draws more support from women than men.
h. Minor (Third) Parties:
i. Single issue parties: Formed along a lone issue of overriding
ii. Factional parties: Results from a split within one of the major parties.
iii. Ideological parties: Green party
iv. Reform Parties: Progressive Party
4. Party Organization:
a. The weakening of party organizations: Party organizations no longer control
activities such as candidate recruitment, fundraising, policy development,
canvassing.
i. Nomination: Selection of the individual who will run as the partys
candidate in the general election.
ii. Primary election (direct primaries): Gives control of nominations to the
voters.
b. Structure and Role of Party Organizations:
i. Local Party Organizations: U.S parties are organized from the bottom
up, not the top down.
ii. State Party Organizations: Each party is headed by a central committee
made up of members of local party organizations and local and state
officeholders.
iii. National Party Organizations: National Republican and Democrat
Parties
5. Candidate Centered Campaign:
a. Campaign funds: The Money Clause: Participants must raise a minimum of 5
million dollars
b. Hard Money: Money given directly to the candidate and can be spent as he or
she chooses. (Citizens United vs. Federal Elections Commission)
c. Organization and Strategy: Political Consultants: Campaign strategists,
pollsters, media producers, and fundraising and get out the vote specialists.
d. Packaging: Highlighting those aspects of the candidates partisanship, policy
positions, personal background, and personality that are thought most
attractive to voters.
6. Voters Contacts: Pitched Battle
a. Air Wars: Use of television ads.
b. Ground Wars: Getting supporters to the polls, and gatherings.
c. Web Wars: Using internet to fundraise or gain support.