Grace Mulamba

3A
Chapter 14: The Campaign Process
1. Generally, there are two phases in which candidates go through in the campaign process: The Nomina
tion Campaign and the General Election Campaign. In the Nomination Campaign, the candidates secure t
he support of party identifiers, interest groups, and political activists. In the General Campaign, candidat
es focus more on defining their candidacy that is acceptable to the majority of voters.
2. The candidates are the center of the political campaign. They first run for office then promote ideologi
cal objectives or pursue specific public policies. The campaign staff gathers their expertise or knowledge
to handle the wide variety of issues and concerns that affect the campaign. They plan general strategy, c
onduct polls, write speeches, and draft the campaigns message collectively.
3. There are several ways in which political campaigns may raise money. To name a few, there are indidi
vual contributions from independent citizens, donations from the national and state committees of the t
wo major political parties, PACs, secure incumbents, the candidates personal savings, public and matchi
ng funds, and soft money groups.
4. The media has a powerful influence on what voters actually see and hear about the candidate. A way i
n which media is used to reach voters is through Campaign advertisements. Through positive, negative,
contrast, and inoculation ads about the candidates, the views and perspectives of voters can shift greatl
y.Campaigns can also use the internet, blogs, social networking sites, newspapers, magazines, television,
and radio as tools to influence voters.
5. In the 2008 presidential campaign, the three contestants for the presidential offices were Barack Oba
ma, Hillart Clinton, and John McCain. Hillary was the early front-runner but was defeated by Barack Oba
ma. John McCain was defeated because of his tactic in which he used to gain votes. He decided to persu
ade those that were Republican to vote for him. But Obama had a more divergent perspective. He decid
ed to approach both the Democratic and Republican parties with strong support from young and first ti
me voters, and benefiting from and unpopular Republican president, Current President Barack Obama w
on the majority of the Electoral College along with an inpressive margin in the popular vote.
6. Considering the fact that the majority of America has a numerous amount of blue collared workers, I
beliebe thats the government should regulate campaign spending. There is already corruption in the ca
mpaign. The government should try to eliminate this injustice by giving attention to the obvious. The ric
her or white collared workers are able to gain more money to create advertisements and buy propagand
a to gain more popularity. So the candidate with the less money, although he could have the potential to
be a great president, wouldnt stand a chance against his opponent. I believe that a president should be
chosen not by how much money he is able to raise or how many scandals he can successfully snuggle un
der the nose of the general publix just to manipulate others so that (s)he could enter into office, but rat
her on true personality, wisdom, and leadership skills.


7. A party convention is usually referred to a general meeting of a political party. The conference is attended
by certain delegates who represent the party membership. In most political parties, the party conference is t
he highest decision-making body of the organization, tasked with electing or nominating the party's leaders o
r leadership bodies, deciding party policy, and setting the party's platform and agendas. (wikipedia definition
)
8.In a nomination campaign,the candidates secure the support of party identifiers, interest groups, and
political activists. In the General Campaign, candidates focus more on defining their candidacy that is acc
eptable to the majority of voters
9. Because of the decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010), the BCRA's ban on el
ectioneering communications made by corporations and unions unconstitutional, thus giving more pow
er to interest groups and corporations in future campaigns and elections.
10.
Nomination campaign: Phase of a political campaign aimed at winning a primary election.
General election campaign: Phase of a political campaign aimed at winning election to office.
Campaign Manager: The individual who travels with the candidate and coordinates the campaign.
Finance chair: The individual who coordinates the financial business of the campaign.
Communications director: The person who develops the overall media strategy for the candidate.
Press Secretary: The individual charged with interacting and communicating with journalists on a daily b
asis.
Campaign consultant: A private-sector professional who sells to a candidate the technologies, services, a
nd strategies required to get that candidate elected.
Pollster: A campaign consultant who conducts public opinion surveys.
Voter canvass: The process by which a campaign reaches individual voters, either by door-to-door solicit
ation or by telephone.
Get-out-the-vote(GOTV): A push at the end of a political campaign to encourage to encourage supporter
s to go to the polls.
Hard money: Campaign contributions that are regulated and limited by the Federal Election Commission
.
Soft money: Campaign contributions that are not regulated or limited by the Federal Election Commissio
n.
Political action committee(PACs): Officially registered fund-raising organization that represents interest


groups in the political process.
Public funds: Donations from general tax revenues to the campaigns of qualifying presidential candidate
s.
Matching funds: Donations to presidential campaigns whereby every dollar raised from individuals in am
ounts less than $251 is matched by the federal treasury.
527 political committee: Tax-exempt organization created to raise money for political activities such as v
oter mobilization and issue advocacy; not subject to FEC disclosure rules.
502(c) group: Nonprofit, tax-exempt interest groups that can engage in varying levels of political activity;
not subject to FEC disclosure rules.
Positive ad: Advertising on behalf of a candidate that stresses the candidate's qualifications, family, and i
ssue positions, with no direct reference to the opponent.
Negative ad: Advertising on behalf of a candidate that attacks the opponents character or platform.
Contrast ad: Ad that compares the records and proposals of the candidates, with a bias toward the candi
date sponsering the ad.
Inoculation ad: Advertising that attempts to counteract an anticipated attack from the opposition before
the attack is launched.