Ch+14+The+Campaign+Process+-+Study+Questions+(with+Answers)

Ch 14 The Campaign Process - Study Questions (with Answers)
1)**Why is the New Hampshire presidential primary so important?** //It is the first presidential primary, so if a candidtate that was supposed to do badly does well his/her campaign is given a huge boost. It also applies the other way round. Basically, the votes from NH are not hugely substansial in the camaign overall but they are used almost like a massive public opinion poll. The New Hampshire primary is also very important because whoever wins it, gains a lot of media coverage and attention. Also, whoever carries New Hampshire will be showing possible endorsers that they are able to win votes and would not be a waste of money to invest in. Overall, primaries are important, and more specifically the New Hampshire primary, because it lets the electorate and endorsers know who is reliable and able to win more votes in the future.//

//Basically consists of the detailed behind-the-scene work needed to run a campaign. An organizational campaign consists of the management of fund-raising, voter contact (canvassing), and the media campaign. Organizational Campaigns seek money, volunteers and the ultimate vote.//
 * 2)Describe the components of the organizational campaign.**

3)**What types of media are available to candidates, and what effect do they have?** //Candidates use many types of media but they tend to shift during national state and local elections. National elections are focused on television and internet whether it is a blog online or a smear campaign commercial. State and local elections use TV less frequently but use radio and signs and literature. The effect of literature and radio adds are to get issue heard and the names more familiar with voters.//

4)**What are political action committees? Are they good or bad?** //Political Action committees are simply groups of people that believe in a certain issue or viewpoint. PACs are really neither good nor bad, but are very influential. They are very passionate about their cause, whatever it may be. They are in charge of organizing fundraisers for the candidates they support. Some are associated with other organizations as well, such as corporations or unions.//

//PAC's can only raise and contribute hard money, regulated by the government (FEC), to a candidate ($5000 per year) or to a Political Party ($15000 per year). They primarily support incumbents.//

//In Buckley v. Valeo, the Supreme Court ruled that a candidate can spend as much money from their own families' resources as they want. The Supreme Court ruled that spending their own money is considered a First Admendment right of free speech. The more wealthy candidates have the upper hand because even if they can not raise millions of dollars, they can spend millions of their own.//
 * 5)What has been the effect of the Supreme Court ruling in Buckley v. Valeo?**

//Hard money is money that is raised under FEC guidelines, while soft money is raised from individuals, corporations, parties, and PACS. Hard money can be used for any campaign purpose, but soft money can only be used for "party building" purposes.//
 * 6)Compare and contrast the uses and sources of hard and soft money.**

//All of the contributions from the members add up to great amounts of money. Members give contributions to candidates who have the majority of committee resources to enhance their campaign even more. Member candidate contributions now supplement campaign resources (by the party campaign committees) to a major extent.//
 * 7)Discuss the impact of member-candidate contributions.**

//1. PAC contributions make up majority of a campaign's total fund 2. PAC contributions can be effectively used to punish legislators and affect policy 3. PAC contributions allow candidates to bear the incredible cost of television time and all other types of media coverage.//
 * 8)Discuss three reasons why PACs are a positive force for political campaigns.**

//The Internet has changed campaign finance by giving a significantly cheaper alternative way of raising campaign contributions that was previously done through expensive direct mail and pricey fund-raisers. Now candidates do not have to spend anywhere near as much money they raise on direct mail, etc. Candidates can use it as a cheap medium to relate directly to voters and activists.//
 * 9)How has the Internet changed campaign finance?**

Hard money is limited and only a certain amount can be legally given; it is regulated by federal Election campaign act. whereas soft money is unregulated and comes from state and local parties as well as individuals.
 * 10)What is the difference between hard money and soft money?**


 * Hard money is classified as regulated donations. Specifically from individuals, and PAC's. Soft money are unregulated funds that come from all sources. Soft money cannot support ads that "expressly advocate" for the election or defeat of a candidate. However, soft money does pay for many other expenses for campaigns.**

//Primary election campaigns usually focus on winning over the leaders and activists of a party. These leaders choose the nominees at conventions and primaries, therefore choosing the candidate for the general election. However, the campaigns in general elections focus on winning the moderate public. They switch from impressing the left or right people at primaries to appear in the middle for the ordinary American person.//
 * 11)What are the differences between the primary and general election campaigns?**

Today, technology rules everything. If you plan on runing for any office and don't have at least a functioning website, you can forget aout having any chance to win. Websites help candidates get their views out (becaouse more and more people are using the internet instead of newspapers every day) and reach a wider audience (very few teens/young adults actually read the newspaper). The websites also help candidates raise money, as many donors prefer to donate online with a credit card rather than send any money through mail or other means. Basically, candidates want to get their name out to as many people as possible, and the Internet is the best way to do that.
 * 12)Discuss the structure and nature of modern political campaigning.**

//In order to gain the two things a campaign need to be viable, (media attention and campaign financing) a candidate must be seen as a feasible candidate. This creates a catch-22 which favors establish candidates and those connected to them (George Bush and Hillary Clinton) or those candidates who can afford to fund themselves (Mitt Romney and Mike Bloomberg).//
 * 13)Discuss the two major challenges to any modern campaign: media attention and campaign financing.**

14)Fully discuss political action committees including their role in financing campaigns, advocating candidates or issues, and discuss whether they are a good or bad aspect of the prospect. //PACs are accountable// //for 57% of the campaign funds for House candidates and 67% for Senate candidates. PACs tend to support incumbents a lot more than challengers because incumbents are more likely to win. They try to get the winning candidate to supoort the issues important to the PAC with their contributions. Because PACs tended to have much more influence than did individuals in the outcome of the elections, restrictions have been set to curtail some of their power. With these restrctions, PACs no longer remain a bad aspect.//

15)**Using explicit examples from the 2004 presidential election, discuss the effect of campaign finance laws.** //The campaign finance laws of 2002 required that no ads of campaigns can be funded by companies or non-profit organizations. Another tidbit of the law required candidates to "stand by" their ads as an effect of the "stand by your ad" provision. Due to 2004 being the first campaign year of the laws being in effect, during the election, one would see ads on television that would have "I'm [insert candidate's name here], and I approve this message."//

//For the past 30 years campaign finance have been managed by Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). The campaign has been strickly about money for the past few years. On valentine day, President Bush signed the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA). People have debated about the BCRA for sometime that their constitutional rights are restricted. Their are still some companies do illegal things but the campaign finance has become better.//
 * 16)Discuss the changing nature of campaign finance.**

17)**Discuss the role of political consultants and the controversy surrounding them.** //They are private- sector professionals that sell technology, strategies and services to the candidates. They are responsible for over seeing the entire campaign and making sure things go well for the candidate. People say that they take away the substance of the campaign and make it like a bag of tricks for sale. Although some disagree with the use of consultants they do show a positive impact on candidates' fundraising and final votes.//

//The Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002 banned unregulated “soft-money” donations to political parties, restricted the use of political ads, and increases political contribution limits for private individuals. Supporters heralded its passage as a major victory in lessening the influence of big money on politics.//
 * 18)Discuss the major components of the Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002.**

//Negative campaign advertising is used solely to discredit the opponent of the candidate financing the ad. A lot of times, the candidate's name is not even mentioned besides a brief message at the end saying that they sponsored the specific ad. The candidate attacks the opponents platform and personal characteristics rather than emphasizing their own positive attributes. Candidates engage in it to replace peoples’ former views of a positive feelings toward a specific candidates and hope to overpower the positive ads with negative ones. However, too much negative campaigning can work against the candidate as well. Sometimes, if there is too much negative ads and not enough about the real issues at hand, undecided voters and moderates can become disillusioned and decide not to vote at all.//
 * 19)Discuss negative campaign advertising? Why do candidates engage in it? Does it work? Explain.**

//The main provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act deals with amount individuals, political parties, and interest groups can give to a candidate running for US president, senator, and representative. This is to prevent any one of those from becoming too influential. For example Individuals can only donate $2,00 per election per candidate and $47,500 worth of gifts given to them. Interest groups must be a registered PAC. Also terms on public funds such as a candidate must raise $5,000 in individual donations and $250 or less in 20 states to receive Public funds and then can apply for matching funds for money less than $251.//
 * 20)What are the main provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act?**

//Soft money is basically money given to the candidate by individuals or political committees and is unregulated by the government. It is important because it helps pay for things like administrative costs and GOTV efforts.//
 * 21)What is meant by "soft money" in a political campaign, and why is it important?**


 * 22)What gave rise to the McGovern-Fraser Commission, and what changes did it make in delegate selection? Was the later addition of superdelegates meant to strengthen or weaken what the commission had done?** //The McGovern-Fraser Commision was created in 1968 during the riots between the Chicago police and anti-war protestors. The McGivorn-Faser Commision was formed so that the delegates could no longer be hand picked by party leaders. The Commision wanted a more proportional representation and better representation for minorities. The Commision allowed only open procedures and affirmative action for selection. The states shifted to a primary elections to pick nominees. The superdelegates weakened the Commision's goals, because they are not bound by the party and give the party leaders some say in the nominee. Which is not what the Commision wanted.//

//In a caucus people elect delegates to vote for them at the party convention when the candidates for president are chosen for that party. In a primary people vote directly for whichever nominee they want. The primary is a better system because it is a more direct form of democracy.//
 * 23)Describe how the caucus and presidential primary differ from one another in selecting delegates to the national party nominating conventions. Which do you think is a better method? Why?**


 * 24)Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the present primary and caucus system of selecting national convention delegates. Would you favor a move to a different system, or prefer to keep the process as is? Be specific, and explain.** A streagth would be that it is limited to which candidates are elegible for the general election. On the other hand its weakness is simply voter turnout especially with caucuses. I personally would keep our system because if everyone is okay with it than why bother changing it.

25)Why are Iowa and New Hampshire especially important to each party in the process of selecting national convention delegates? Should they have this sort of power? Explain. They have a caucus rather then a direct primary, which means people elect delegates to vote for them at the oarty convention when the canidates for preisdent are chosen for that party. I think this sort of power is unfair to the system because this is the less direct then using the primary method.

The purpose of national conventions is for each party to elect a representative for their party. Thousands convene at this event. The reason why it's one specific representative and not multiple is because the addition of representatives of a certain party would split the votes of the supporters by how many representatives of that party exist. This would give the party with fewer representatives a huge advantage. They are still holding it, because it still serves as an effective method to choose representatives from given parties.
 * 26)For what purpose do America's major parties hold national conventions? How have they changed over the last few decades, and why? Are they still worth holding? Why, or why not? Explain**.


 * 27)How have national party conventions changed over time? What happens at the convention and what are the major functions of the convention today?** //In the beginning of national party conventions, it was really just members of Congress meeting within their party caucuses to select their party's nominee/ The problem with this was that people from the west were a lot different from people from the east, and they were unable to decide on one candidate. In the 1824 election, many people from the west rejected William H. Crawford and instead wanted John Quincy Adams or Andrew Jackson. In the 1832 election the Anti-Masonic party met in Baltimore to decide their candidate, the other two parties quickly followed. Now the convention has changed to a several day thing in which there are different speakers about the parties platform, rallies, and then a vote at the end. The major function is to choose the presidential candidate and to have unity among party members by stating the party platforms.//


 * 28)How has campaigning changed in the modern high-tech society? Evaluate how technology has changed campaigning. Are these changes good or bad for American society?** Campaining has changed greatly. People these days are using machines to vote and they are voting even by mail. In the military some are even voting by internet. I think that it helps american socioty because it makes voting more convienient and in turn more people vote.


 * 29)Describe the various staff members necessary for a modern presidential campaign. What do many of these tasks say about the importance of issues as opposed to the importance of image?** These days, presidential bids are more substantially about image than any other time in history. The major staff members necessary for executing such a bid include the campaign manager, who runs all the nitty-gritty aspects of the candidates campaign; the campaign consultant, who is usually from the private sector and sells the campaign the technologies and strategies they need to run a successful bid; the finance chair, who handles all the money of the campaign; the media consultant and communications director, who deal with the meadia and the press; the pollster, who takes public opinion polls; and the direct mailer, who supervises direct mail fundraising.

30)Why is organization important to a political campaign? How are most political campaigns organized? What factors are essential for a well-organized campaign? //a) organization is important because it is the "behind the scenes efforts" to ensure the success of the candidate. They run the fund-raising, voter contact, the media campaign. ex// putting up ads, events with candidates, passing out literature, signs, phone banking etc... b) they are organized by positions in the organization that run the different aspects ex //campaign manager- travel with candidate and coordinates the many diff. aspects of campaign, campaign consultant - provides the techonolgy service, finance chair - money aspect, pollster- takes public opinion polls. direct mailer- supervises fund-raising strategies and direct mail// c) all of these positions plus the people that work for them are essiental to a well runned campaign


 * 31)Describe the significance of money in a modern presidential election campaign. How does the government regulate the fund-raising and expenditures of presidential campaigns? Is the government regulation adequate? Explain.** //Government oversight of donations to political campaigns limits individual contributions to $2,000 per election per campain. Also, personal donations are limited to $47,500 total per year. Today and in past elections there has been a rise in the use of "soft money", which is laregly unregualted, althought there have been propsals to limit its influence and start regualtion.//

//Money is really really important in a political campaign because it takes millions of dollars to make TV adds, bumper stickers, etc. to get the candidate's name out there. This means that it's probably the richer people who run seriously in big elections because they can use their own money. Although billionaires Ross Perot and Steve Forbes didn't have as much political experience as other presidential candidates, they were able to generate a lot of support through spending money on advertising.//
 * 32)Describe and evaluate the role of money in political campaigns, and its impact on the distribution of political power in America.**

//The current funding system for federal elections is made up of donations from individuals, Political Action Committee Contributions, political party contributions, member-to-cadidate contributions, public funds, and independent expenditures. The advantages of having "full" public financing are that the campaign contributions are a form of speech and if you were to get rid of the campaign contributions, you would be eliminating their first amendment rights. The government getting involved in regulating the public financing would not be a good solution to a market-driven problem is yet another advantage to a system of "full" public financing. And finally a campaign finance reform would assist those who are incumbents. The disadvantages would be that the campaign finance reforms would open up the doors for new challegers which would could change the process of creating candidates. This reform would also prohibit large organizations from dominations the attention of elected officials so they would have to get different ways to appeal to a large number of people. The incumbents would benefit from this, and so would well liked candidates who would gain a large financal boost if there would be a "full" public finacing because they would get the most money.//
 * 33)Describe the current funding system for federal elections in the United States. Assess the advantages and disadvantages of "full" public financing of federal elections. Who would benefit from such a policy? Why?**

//A Political Action Committee, or PAC, is a private group organized to elect or defeat government officials or to promote legislation. By receiving contributions or making expenditures in excess of $1,000 they influence a federal election. Under the Federal Election Campaign Act, an organization becomes a "political committee" after they recieve these contributions. Contributions by individuals to federal PACs are limited to $5000. Corporations and unions may not contribute to federal PACs, but they can pay for the administrative costs of a PAC's relations with the specific corporation or union. Corporate and union affiliated PACs can only solicit contributions from executives, shareholders and their families or members. Independent PACs are not the same as corporation or unions. Independent PACs can solicit contributions from the general public but must pay their operating costs from regulated contributions.//
 * 34)Explain how a political action committee works. How are political action committees regulated? Evaluate the influence of political action committees.**

35)Describe what a PAC is, and why it is significant. What role do PACs play in major election campaigns in the United States? Are PACs a reflection of democracy in action, a threat to democracy, or something in between? Explain. //When an organization wants to financially support a candidate for public office (usually federal), they must do so by registering with the Federal Election Commission and form a Political Action Committee. This means that they can fundraise and contribute money freely to a candidate's campaign. PACs can be seen as tarnishing the democratic process because while they can give representation and a voice to organizations like labor unions, they can also allow fund-saturated groups like the NRA or Koch Industries to contribute massive amounts of money to a candidate.//

//Many voters already have their mind set and political view set before the election do to their political socialization. A political campaign is used by candidates so voters can match their political idelogy views to the campaign platform. However, one specific issue of a campign platform can affect an individual's voting intention, but it is very unlikely that a whole plitical campaign with change a voter's intention.//
 * 36)Why do political campaigns rarely affect an individual's voting intention?**

Political Campaigns are very important thing in America. Campaign expresses ones idea and gathers its supporters to make United States better nation. One bad thing is that sometimes political campaigns tends to favor only to large amount of people. So, some small but important opinion can be ignored. But usually, it is democratic because if there is a problem or unfairness, people could fix it with a campaign.
 * 37)Evaluate political campaigns in America in terms of their role in the democratic process. How do they make our system more democratic? What limits campaigns from making our system more democratic?**

Three key effects campaigns can have on voters is first they get voters out to vote by calling them by phone in a program called the Get-out-the-vote or GOTV. They also get voters to try to donate money towards the campaigns of the particular candidates. Finally they spread often times negative messages about the opposing candidates to get people to not vote for the other party. The two most important are usually the get-out-the-vote and the money donations the negative advertisements has had limited success because of the fact that some people are offended by it. If you were running a campaign I would emphasize the money donations so that my candidate would have enough money to run his or her campaign successfully.
 * 38)Describe the three key effects campaigns can have on voters, and note which two of the three are most significant, and why. If you were running a campaign, what would be your emphasis? Why?**

//The major difference between presidential and congressional campaigns is that congressional campaigns are directed more to the districts and try to win their votes.A presidential campaign is based on a national race. Also, a congressional campaign is held every 2 years, while a presidential campaign is held every 4 years.//
 * 39)Identify the major differences between presidential and congressional campaigns.**

The media plays a huge role in making candidates more personable and avaliaible. A voter can hear a candidate's voice on the radio or TV and see their image on the news or in a newspaper or magazine. The internet also allows unlimited access to a candidate's round the clock campaigning and picks up on even the smallest news stories about each candidate.
 * 40)What factors have combined to make today's political campaigns as personal and individual as they have become?**

41)**Identify some of the ways that the local orientation of legislators has an impact on how policy is made. Why would anyone argue that this type of orientation is wrong?** Most political candidates grew up in America, and have a special connection with their hometowns. Some people might argue that candidates would be influenced by the wishes of their local contacts. They might make decisions which would benefit their hometown specifically, perhaps at the detriment of other areas in need. Affiliation bribery could siphon funds from areas in need to areas from which a candidate hails.

42)Summarize what we know about money and winning in presidential and congressional campaigns. //Basically money is everything, it funds the candidates through their campaigns essentially. There are two fund raising sections essentially. The first is for the primary election and the second is for the presidential election. Each person has a limit as to how much they are allowed to donate to a candidates primary and presidential election. Generally candidates that pour more money into their campaigns win but it is not always the case. Part of it is also how effectively a candidate spends their money which is also very important. Candidates that have more money to begin with or are rich have a head start because they can spend as much of their own money as they want and therefore have a better chance.//

//It’s not always about numbers; it’s about passion and enthusiasm. While most educated, liberal minded people identify with the Democratic Party, their voter turnout is rather low. A typical democrat supporter would rather go to work in office on the day of election rather than vote. On the other hand, a majority of republican supporters are absolutely devoted – it doesn’t matter whether it is raining, snowing or whatever natural or man-made obstacles there are - they go out and vote. This really makes the difference in the end.//
 * 43)If more people identify with the Democratic party than the Republican party, why have Republicans won more recent presidential elections?**

44)Summarize the major findings of research which followed the halting of the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court in the 2000 election. //What happened was that there was tons of confusion in Florida over some of the Butterfly Ballots. They were a controversial ballot design, and supposedly caused many mis-votes. Also, there was some debate on whether ALL of the votes were counted, as well as absentee ballots. It was complete turmoil to try to determine who won the vote in Florida because of all these issues. It also angered many that the election came down to the results in Florida, where Bush's brother, Jeb, was governor.//

45)**Explain how political scientists believe the issue of “the economy” figures into voting in presidential elections**. //Economics has an affect on presidential elections becasue it offers a chance to change the direction of the country. If the economy is poor the public can blame the current president or the political party in charge, and can decide to use their votes to change what is happening.

46)// **What is a personal campaign and when does it begin?** //A personal campaign is the part of a political campaign concerned with presenting the candidate's pubic image. It begins as soon as a candidate wants to run for office.//