Campaigns and Elections

Campaign: An organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group

Election: The process by which the people vote on who should hold a position of power.

Candidate Centered Campaign: politics that focus on candidates, their particular issues, and character rather than party affiliation.

1968 Democratic Convention: Led to the introduction of political reform regarding how presidential nominees were chosen.

Congressional Caucus: A group of members of the United States Congress that meet to pursue common legislative objectives.

Primary elections are how we determine who will run as a representative for each party. This has become a very democratic practice but didn't start that way. Initially, Congressional caucuses would be held so parties could decide who they wanted to nominate. By the 1830's this method was exchanged for National Party conventions where state and local party leaders would determine the nominee. In both situations the people had no say. This method remained in use until the 1968 Democratic Convention when there were protests. This led to reform that gave citizens are more power regarding who was chosen. This of course has its own restrictions and problems.

Political Parties and Interest Groups

Republican: A right leaning political party that has more conservative values.

Democrat: A left leaning political party with more liberal values.

Linkage Institutions: A structure within society that connects the people to the government or a centralized authority.

Interest groups are foundations that point people towards candidates who uphold their same values. They tend to blur party lines and focus specifically on those the candidate is claiming they will help. Using the 2008 election as an example those, who were supportive of the Black Community, Women's rights, and the rights of undocumented immigrants were more likely to be led towards Obama. Political parties have very set values.