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20 terms

Chapter 9 Terms: Nominations and Campaigns

the official endorsement of a candidate for office by a political party; generally, success in the nomination game requires momentum, money, and media attention
campaign strategy
the master game plan candidates lay out to guide their electoral campaign
national party convention
the supreme power within each of the parties; meets every 4 years to nominate the party's presidential and vice-presidential candidates and to write the party's platform
a meeting of all state party leaders for selecting delegates to the national party convention; usually organized as a pyramid
presidential primaries
elections in which voters in a state vote for a candidate (or delegates pledged to him or her); most delegates to the national party conventions are chosen this way
McGovern-Fraser Commission
national party leaders who automatically get a delegate slot at the Democratic national party convention
the recent tendency of states to hold primaries early in the calendar in order to capitalize on media attention; it used to be advantageous to hold late primaries because you played a decisive role, but now late primaries are irrelevant because the nominee is virtually decided already
national primary
a proposal by critics of the caucuses and presidential primaries systems who would replace these electoral methods with a nationwide primary held early in the election year
regional primaries
party platform
a political party's statement of its goals and policies for the next 4 years; drafted prior to the party convention by a committee whose members are chosen in rough proportion to each candidate's strength; best formal statement of what a party believes in
direct mail
a high-tech method of raising money for a political cause or candidate; involves sending information and requests for money to people whose names appear on lists of those who have supported similar views or candidates in the past
Federal Election Campaign Act
a law passed in 1974 for reforming campaign finances; created the Federal Election Commission, provided public financing for presidential primaries and general elections, limited presidential campaign spending, required disclosure, and attempted to limit contributions
Federal Election Commission
a 6-member bipartisan agency created by the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974; administers the campaign finance laws and enforces compliance with their requirements
Presidential Elections Campaign Fund
matching funds
soft money
political contributions earmarked for party-building expenses at the grass-roots level (or for generic party advertising); unlike money that goes to the campaign of a particular candidate, such party donations are not subject to contribution limits
527 groups
independent groups that seek to influence the political process but are not subject to contribution restrictions because they do not directly seek the election of particular candidates
political action committees
funding vehicles created by the 1974 campaign finance reforms; a corporation, union, or some other interest group can create a PAC and register it with the Federal Election Commission, which will meticulously monitor the PAC's expenditures
selective perception
the phenomenon that people often pay the most attention to things they already agree with and interpret them according to their own predispositions