Chapter 14: THE CAMPAIGN PROCESS Chapter 14.1: Trace the evolution of political campaigns in the United States.
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Introduction: o No two political campaigns are the same. o But contests are similar to structure.
The Nomination Campaign: o The phase of a political campaign aimed at winning a primary election. o Begins as soon as the candidate has decided to run for office. o This may be years prior to the actual election. o During the nomination campaign, the candidates target party leaders and interest groups. o They test out themes, slogans, and strategies.
The Nomination Campaign: o This is the time for candidates to learn that a single careless phrase could end the campaign or guarantee a defeat. o A candidate can move too far to the right or left and appear too extreme for the electorate in November. o A danger not always heeded by candidates trying to win the party s nomination during the nomination campaign.
The Nomination Campaign: o Party activists are generally more ideologically extreme than party identified voters in the general electorate. o Activists participate in primaries and caucuses at a relatively higher rate. o If a candidate tries too hard to appeal to the interest of party elites. o He or she jeopardizes the ultimate goal of winning the election.
The General Election Campaign: o After earning the party s nomination, candidates or the phase of a political campaign aimed at winning election to office. o Candidates in partisan elections run against nominees from other political parties. o In the nomination campaign they run against members of their own party.
The General Election Campaign: o All eligible voters, regardless of political party have the opportunity to vote in these elections. o In most cases, they aim and seek votes from political moderates. o Choose middle-of the road positions on controversial issues to attract individual votes.
Chapter 14: THE CAMPAIGN PROCESS Assembling a Campaign Staff: 14.2: Assess the role of candidates and their staff in the campaign process.
The General Election Campaign: o Candidates are the center of political campaigns. o A candidate may not make all of the decisions. o Even have the expertise or knowledge to handle the wide variety of issues and concerns that affect the campaign o But ultimately it is the candidates name.
The General Election Campaign: o Candidates employ a wide variety of people in order to help them run an effective campaign. o Most candidates for higher office hire a campaign manager o Finance chair, o Communications staff.
The Candidate: o Before there can be a campaign, there must be a candidate. o Candidates run for office for any number of reasons. o Including personal ambition. o The desire to promote ideological objectives o Pursue specific public policies o Simply because they think they can do a better job than their opponents.
The Candidate: o They must spend a considerable amount of time and energy. o Be prepared to expose themselves and often their families to public scrutiny. o A chance of rejection by the voters. o Their schedule is hectic and grueling. o When maxed out can make gaffes and also lose temper against their opponents and the media.
The Campaign Staff: o Paid staff o Political consultants o Dedicated volunteers o They Support the candidate.
The Campaign Staff Responsibilities: o Collectively, they plan general strategy. o conduct polls o write speeches o Craft the campaign message o Design a communications plan to disseminate that message in the media (TV, Radio, Web, and Mail) o Fund Raising events o Campaign rallies o Direct voter contacts
The Campaign Staff: o The size of the nature of the campaign is determined on what office they pursue. o Presidents, Senators, governors, have larger staffs.
Campaign Manager: o Runs nearly every campaign at the state and national level. o The campaign manager travels with the candidate and coordinates the campaign. o He or she makes the day to day decisions and work closely with the candidate. o In some cases, campaign manager may be the only full-time employee of the campaign.
Finance Chair o The major role is to coordinate the financial efforts of the campaign. o The job includes raising money. o Keeping records of funds, received and spent. o Filing required paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (the agency in charge of monitoring campaign activity).
Communication Staff: o A communication director, who develops the overall media strategy for the campaign. o Heads the communications staff. o It is the communications director s job to stay apprised of newspaper, television, radio, and internet coverage. o As well as supervise media consultants who craft campaign advertisements.
Communication Staff: o In many campaigns, the communication director works closely with the press secretary. o The press secretary interacts and communicates with journalists on a daily basis, o And or acts as the spokesperson for the campaign.
Communication Staff: o It is the press secretary s job to be quoted in news coverage. o To explain the candidate s issue position. o To react to the action of opposing candidates. o They also have the job of delivering bad news. o Responding to attacks from opponents and interest groups.
Campaign Consultants: o Are from the private sector. o Professionals and firms who sell the technologies, services and strategies many candidates need to get elected. o First appeared in the 1930s. o Have grown exponentially.
Campaign Consultants: o Pollsters are campaign consultants who conduct public opinion surveys. o These study, and gather opinions from a candidate s potential constituents. o They are useful because they can tell a candidate where he or she stands relative to their opponent. o Or provide useful data about the issue and positions that are important to voters.
Volunteers: o Most canvassing or direct solicitation of support takes place in the month before the election. o When voters are most likely to be paying attention. o Closer to Election Day, volunteers begin vital get-out-the vote (GOTV) efforts. o Calling and e-mailing supporters to encourage them to vote. o Arrange for their transportation to the polls if necessary.
Volunteers: Lifeblood of Every Campaign (National or local) o Answer phone calls. o Staff candidate booths at festivals and county fairs o Copy and distribute campaign literature o Serve as the public face of the campaign. o They go door to door to solicit votes, o Use computerized telephone banks to call targeted voters with scripted messages
Chapter 14: THE CAMPAIGN PROCESS RAISING MONEY: 14.3: Evaluate the ways campaigns raise money
Raising Money: o Successful campaigns require a great deal of money. o In 2008 nearly $2 billion was raised by the Democratic and Republican parties.
Regulating Campaign Finance: o The United States has struggled to regulate campaign spending for well over one hundred years. o Civil Service Reform Legislation (1883). o Congressional law that prohibited solicitation of political funds from Federal Workers. o This attempted to halt a corrupt and long held practice. o This law was an early attempt to regulate the way candidates raise campaign resources.
Regulating Campaign Finance: o Tillman Act (1907) prohibited corporations from making direct contributions to candidates for federal office. o The Corrupt Practices Act (1910, 1911, and 1925), the Hatch Act (1939), and Taft Hartley Act (1947). o All attempted to regulate the manner in which federal candidates finance their campaigns. o To some extend limit the corrupting influence of campaign spending.
Regulating Campaign Finance: o Serious broad campaign finance regulations was not enacted until the 1970s in the wake of the Watergate Scandal. o The Federal Campaign Act (FECA) and its amendment established disclosure requirements. o The Presidential Public Funding Program, which provides partial public funding for presidential candidates who meet certain criteria. o The Federal Election Commission (FEC) an independent federal agency tasked with enforcing the nation s election laws.
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) o President George W. Bush signed into law a new set of campaign finance regulation. o BCRA regulates political advertising and funding. o The act limits the broadcast of issue advocacy ads within thirty days of primary election. o sixty days of a general election. o It regulates campaign contributions from a number of sources.
Regulating Campaign Finance: o Campaign contributions come from a number of sources. o Hard Money o Soft Money
Hard Money: o Campaign contributions that are clearly regulated by the Federal Election Commission.
Soft Money: o Campaign funds may also come from public sources. o Or from sources that are not regulated or limited by the Federal Election Commission. o Soft money may not be given directly to the candidate. o But it may be used for indirect issue advocacy on the candidates behalf. o As long as much advocacy does not directly mention the candidate s name. o And does not occur in coordination with the campaign.
Regulating Campaign Finance: o Opponents of BCRA stated it is an infringement on their right to free speech. o Supreme Court (2003) held that the government s interest in preventing corruption overrides the free speech the parties would otherwise be entitled to. o BCRA s restrictions on soft-money donations and political advertising did not violate free speech rights.
Regulating Campaign Finance: o The Supreme Court declared other sections of BCRA unconstitutional. o In 2007 the Court held that the thirty-and sixty-day limits placed on issue advocacy ads were unconstitutional. o Opening the door to these electioneering communications throughout the election cycle.
Regulating Campaign Finance: o And in 2008, the court overturned another provision of the act. o That had attempted to limit the amount of a candidate's own money that could be spent running for office.
Regulating Campaign Finance: o In 2010 the Court handed down a decision in Citizens United v. FEC. o That declared unconstitutional BCRA s ban on electioneering communications made by corporations and unions. o This was a significant blow to BCRA s provisions. o Is likely to dramatically increase the power of interest group and corporations in campaigns and elections.
Regulating Campaign Finance: o The result of these decisions. o The Supreme Court willingness to equate money with speech. o Has effectively gut campaign finance law in the U.S.
Regulating Campaign Finance: o Limits exist on individual s expenditures to parties and candidates. o Independent expenditures. o Or funds spent to advocate for the election of a candidate. o Without coordinating with that candidate s campaign committee are unlimited.
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act: o Regulates campaign contributions from a number of sources. o Including individuals, o Political parties, o Political action committees, o Members of congress, and personal savings.
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act: o The Federal Election Commission regulates, records, and discloses these expenditures. o The FEC also monitors infractions of campaign finance rules. o Acts as a quasi-judicial arbiter of conflicts.
Sources of Campaign Funding: o Candidates may also receive some outside assistance from soft money groups. o These groups include 527 political committees and 501 groups. o These groups have played increasingly active roles since the passage of BCRA.
Individuals: o Individual contributions are donations from independent citizens. o Maximum allowable contribution under Federal law for Congressional and Presidential elections ($2,500)per election. o With Primary and general elections considered separate.
Individuals: o Individuals limited to total of $117,500 in gifts to all candidates, political action committees. o And parties combined per two-year election cycle. o These limits will rise at the rate of inflation in subsequent cycles. o Most candidates receive a majority of all funds directly from individuals. o Most individual gifts are well below the maximum level.
Political Parties: o Candidates can receive substantial donations from the national and state committees of the Democratic and Republican parties. o Under the current rules, national parties can give up to $5,000 per election to a House Candidate. o $43,100 to a Senate candidate. o In 2012, the Republican and Democratic parties raised nearly $2 billion. o In competitive races, the parties may provide almost 20 percent of their candidates total war chests.
Personal Savings: Buckley v. Valeo o The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that no limit could be placed on the amount of money candidates can spend from their own families resources. o Since such spending is considering a First Amendment right of free speech. o For wealthy politicians this allowance may mean personal spending in the millions. o Most candidates commit much less than $100,000 in family resources to their election bids.
POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES (PACS): o Under current rules, a PAC can give no more than $5,000 per candidate per election. o $15,000 each year to each of the national party committees. o PACS remain one of the most controversial parts of the campaign financing process.
POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES (PACS): o Interest groups must establish PACs to make donations to campaigns. o Interest groups include labor unions, corporations, trade unions, ideological issue groups. o PACs are officially recognized fundraising organizations that are allowed by federal law to participate in federal elections.
POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES (PACS): o Some observers claim that PACs are the embodiment of corrupt special interests. o That use campaign donations to buy the votes of legislators. o Studies, in fact, have confirmed this suspicion. o PACS effectively use contribution to punish legislators and affect policy, at least in the short run.
POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES (PACS): o Legislators who vote contrary to the wishes of a PAC see their donations withheld. o But those who are successful in legislating as the PAC wishes are rewarded with even greater donations. o Donations from a small number of PACs make up a large proportion of campaign war chests.
527 Political Committees: o Names after the section of the tax code. o Organizations created with the primary purpose of influencing election outcomes. o Technically includes candidate campaign committees and party committees. o The term is applied to only freestanding interest groups. o That do not explicitly advocate for the election of a candidate. o This includes Unions and partisan organizations. o Such as the College Republican National Committee.
527 Political Committees: o 527s have very limited government regulation. o The Federal Electoral Commission monitors contributions of these groups. o No limits are set on how much an individual or organization can contribute. o Or how much a group may spend on electoral activities.
501 ( C ) Groups o Interest groups whose primary purpose is not electoral politics. o Federal rules mandate that no more than half of the group s budget is spent on campaign politics. o Most of their electoral activity focuses on raising awareness of candidate s position on issues of interest to the group. o Became significantly involved in electoral politics after Supreme Court lifted BNCRA s ban on issue advocacy. o These groups are not required to disclose the source of their donations. o Groups include Planned Parenthood and Americans Value Action.
Super PACs: o The fastest growing and arguably the most significant external actor in 2012 elections. o It s a special kind of political action committee established to make independent expenditure. o Spending for campaign activity that is not coordinate with the candidate s campaign. o They may not give money directly to candidates or party committees. o Traditionally PACs can.
Super PACs: o Must disclose the sources of their contributions to the FEC. o May not take money from any person or organization interested in influencing the political process. o They are also not subject to contribution or expenditure limits.
PUBLIC FUNDS: o Public funds are donations from general tax revenues to the campaigns of qualifying candidates. o Under FECA (which first established public funding of presidential campaigns), o A candidate for president can become eligible for receiving public funds. o During the nomination campaign by raising at least $5,000 in individual contributions of $250 or less in each of twenty states.
PUBLIC FUNDS: o The candidates can then apply for federal matching funds. o Whereby every dollar raised from individuals in amounts less than $251 is matched by the federal treasury on a dollar-to-dollar basis.
PUBLIC FUNDS: o This assumes there is enough money in the Presidential Election campaign Fund to do so. o The fund is accumulated by tax payers who designate $3 of their taxes for this purpose each year. o When they spend in their federal tax returns. o (Only about 20 percent of taxpayers check off the appropriate box, even though participation does not increase their tax burden).
PUBLIC FUNDS: o During the general election campaign. o The two major party presidential nominees can accept $91.2 million lump sum payment from the Federal Government. o If the candidate accepts the money, it becomes the sole source of financing a campaign. o A candidate may refuse the money and be free from the spending cap the government attaches to it.
PUBLIC FUNDS: o A third-party candidate receives a smaller amount of public funds proportionate to his or her November vote total. o if the candidate gains a minimum of 5 percent of the vote. o Note that such a case, the money goes to third-party campaigns only after the election is over. o No money is given in advance of the general election.
Chapter 14: THE CAMPAIGN PROCESS REACHING VOTERS: 14.4 Identify the ways campaigns use the media to reach potential voters.
Media Coverage: o Plays a large role in determining what voters actually see and hear about the candidate. o Media can take a number of different forms. o Traditional media, o New media o Campaign advertisements.
Media Coverage: o Traditional coverage of a political campaign includes content appearing in newspapers and magazines. o As well as on radio and television. o New Media coverage include internet.
Traditional Media: o During campaign season, the news media constantly report political news. o What they report largely based on news editors decisions of what is newsworthy or fit to print. o The press often reports what candidates are doing. o Such as giving speeches, holding fund raisers or meeting with party leaders.
Traditional Media: o Reporters may also investigate rumors of a candidate s misdeeds or unflattering personal history. o This free media attention may help candidates increase their name recognition. o It may prove frustrating for campaigns, which do not control the content of the coverage.
Traditional Media: o Studies have shown that reporters are obsessed with the horse race aspect of politics. o Who s ahead, who s behind, who s gaining to the detriment of the substance of the candidates issues and ideas. o Public opinion polls, especially tracking polls. o Many of them taken by news outlet dominate coverage on network television. o Where only a few minutes a night are devoted to politics.
STRATEGIES TO CONTROL MEDIA COVERAGE: o Candidates and their media consultants use various strategies. o In an effort to obtain favorable press coverage. o First, campaign staff members often seek to isolate the candidate from the press. o Reducing the chances that reporters will bait a candidate into saying something that might damage his or her cause.
STRATEGIES TO CONTROL MEDIA COVERAGE: o Second, the campaign stages media events. o Activities designed to include brief, clever quotes called sound bites set with appealing backdrops. o So they will be covered on the television news and in the newspaper. o In this fashion, the candidate s staff can successfully fill the news hold reserved for campaign coverage.
STRATEGIES TO CONTROL MEDIA COVERAGE: o Third, campaign staff and consultants have cultivated a technique termed spin. o They put forward the most favorable possible interpretation for their candidate. o (And the most negative for their opponent) o Or any circumstance occurring in the campaign.
STRATEGIES TO CONTROL MEDIA COVERAGE: o They also work the press to sell their point of view. o Or at least to ensure that it is included in the reporters stories. o Fourth, candidates have found ways to circumvent traditional reporters by appearing in talk shows.
CANDIDATE DEBATES: o The first face-to-face presidential debate in U.S. History happened in 1960. o Face-to-face debates did not become a regular part of presidential campaigns until the 1980s. o However, they are now an established feature of presidential campaigns. o As well as races for governor, U.S. Senator, and many other offices.
CANDIDATE DEBATES: o Candidates and their staffs recognize the importance of debates as a tool not only for consolidating their voter base. o To correct misperceptions about the candidate s auditability for office. o Candidates have complete control over what they say in debates, o But they do not have control over what the news media will highlight and focus on after the debates.
CANDIDATE DEBATES: o Even though candidates prepare themselves by rehearsing their responses. o They cannot avoid the perils of spontaneity. o Errors or slips of the tongue can affect election outcomes.
New Media: o Contemporary campaigns have an impressive new array of weapons at their disposal: o Faster printing technologies, reliable data bases, Internet, Mass Emails, etc. o As a result. candidates can gather and disseminate information more quickly and effectively than ever.
New Media: o The most widely used new media tool is, of course the Internet. o The Clinton and Gore ticket of 1992 was the first use of the internet in a national campaign. o Al Gore maintained a Web site that stored electronic versions of their biographical summaries, speeches, press release, and position papers.
Campaign Advertisements: o Candidates and their media consultants may choose to buy airtime in the form of campaign advertisements. o These ads may take a number of different forms. o Positive ads stress the candidates qualifications, family, and issue positions with no direct reference to the opponent. o Positive ads are usually favored by the incumbent candidate.
Campaign Advertisements: o Negative ads attack the opponent s character or platform. o With the exception of the candidate s brief, legally required statement that he or she approved the ad. o A negative ad may not even mention the candidate who is paying for the airing. o Contrast Ads compare the records and proposals of the candidates with a bias toward the candidate sponsoring the ad.
Campaign Advertisements: o Although negative advertisements have grown dramatically in number during the past two decades. o They have been a part of American campaigns almost since the nation s founding.
Campaign Advertisements: o In 1796, federalists portrayed losing presidential candidate Thomas Jefferson as an atheist and a coward. o Before the 1980s, well-known incumbents usually ignored negative attacks from their challengers. o Believing that the proper stance was to be above the fray.
Campaign Advertisements: o But, after some well-publicized defeats of incumbents in the early 1980s in which negative television advertising played a prominent role. o Incumbents began attacking their challengers in earnest.
Campaign Advertisements: Inoculation Ads o Are ads that attempt to counteract an anticipated attack from the opposition before such an attack is launched. o In a further attempt to stave off criticisms from challengers. o Incumbents began anticipating the substance of their opponents attacks. o And airing inoculation ads early in the campaign. o To protect themselves in advance from the other side s spots.
Campaign Advertisements: o For example, a senator who fears a broadside about her voting record on veteran s issues. o Might air advertisements featuring veterans of their families praising her support. o Although paid advertising remains the most controllable aspect of a campaign s strategy. o The news media increasingly have an impact on it.