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Resources in the General Election

Resources in the General Election. Money. FECA provides FULL public financing for presidential election campaigns 2008: $84.1 million. Parties may make coordinated expenditures Pays for goods or services to benefit candidate 2008: $19.1 million

berthacampbell
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Resources in the General Election

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  1. Resources in the General Election

  2. Money • FECA provides FULL public financing for presidential election campaigns • 2008: $84.1 million. • Parties may make coordinated expenditures • Pays for goods or services to benefit candidate • 2008: $19.1 million • State and local parties can still do get-out-the-vote drives (no ads) • Parties can spend money independently

  3. Does money buy outcomes?

  4. Pros and Cons of the Electoral College

  5. Rules • Each state appoints “Electors” equal to the number of combined seats in the House and Senate • Electors meet in own states • Electors cast two votes (P and VP) • MAJORITY (270 votes) to win • If no winner, House of Reps. chooses among top candidates, one vote per state.

  6. Problems with the EC? • Anti-Majoritarian • Popular vote winner can lose presidency • Can have House of Reps, one state per vote, elect president • Can have “Faithless Electors” • Unequal weighting of votes • Voters in small states mathematically overrepresented • Partisan minorities’ votes “don’t count” • Campaign only targets some voters • Turnout is higher in battleground states • But rhetoric is national • But battleground states demographically representative • But no difference in voter efficacy

  7. Positive aspects of EC? • Forces candidates to create broad electoral coalitions • Exaggerates margin of victory, making governing easier • Encourages 2 party system

  8. Consequences for strategy? • Focus on electorally rich (populous) states • Focus on “swing” states

  9. Targeted States, 2004

  10. Targeted States, 2004

  11. Turnout in targeted states

  12. Simple popular vote: Effects on campaign strategy • Greater cost • Media markets replace states as focus of resource concentration • Favors Republicans?

  13. What would happen if we elected the president by popular vote??

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