1 / 17

CAMPAIGNING

CAMPAIGNING. 2 campaign periods: primary campaign and campaigning for the General Election. The Campaign Game. The High-Tech Media Campaign Direct mail used to generate support and money for the candidate Get media attention through ad budget and “free” coverage

quinn-robinson
Download Presentation

CAMPAIGNING

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. CAMPAIGNING 2 campaign periods: primary campaign and campaigning for the General Election

  2. The Campaign Game • The High-Tech Media Campaign • Direct mail used to generate support and money for the candidate • Get media attention through ad budget and “free” coverage • Problem with “free” coverage: news stories focus more on the “horse race” than substantive policy issues

  3. The Campaign Game

  4. Campaign advertising • Television is the most common way for candidates to reach voters • A 30 second advertisement is expensive, but often an effective tool for influencing voters • TV ads can target specific audiences and can use specific strategies based on the content of the ad and the intended audience

  5. Campaign Finance Are campaigns TOO expensive??

  6. Important Terms • Incumbent: a person who is currently in political office • PACs: Political Action Committees: created by law in 1974 to allow corporations, labor unions, and other interest groups to donate money to campaigns; PACs register with and are monitored by the FEC. • Independent expenditure: money spent on campaign material by a person or organization that is separate from the candidate and his/her committee • Individual contributions: money given by individuals to candidates, their committees, or political parties • Hard money: campaign donations that are monitored and limited by the FEC • Soft Money: campaign donations that are not limited by the FEC; soft money used to be money spent by political parties, but that “loophole” was eliminated in 2002 with the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act.

  7. SuperPAC: A super PAC is “a political committee whose primary purpose is to influence elections, and which can take unlimited amounts of money, outside of federal contribution limits, from rich people, unions and corporations, pool it all together, and spend it to advocate for a candidate — as long as they are independent and not coordinated with the candidate.” from http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/follow-the-money-understanding-super-pac-spending/ • 527 Group: “A tax-exempt group organized under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code to raise money for political activities including voter mobilization efforts, issue advocacy and the like.” From: http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/types.php

  8. Money and Campaigning • The Maze of Campaign Finance Reforms • Federal Election Campaign Act (1974) • Created the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to administer campaign finance laws for federal elections • Created the Presidential Election Campaign Fund • Provided partial public financing for presidential primaries • Matching funds: Contributions of up to $250 are matched for candidates who meet conditions, such as limiting spending. • Provided full public financing for major party candidates in the general election • Required full disclosure and limited contributions • The first successful challenge to FECA came in 1976 with the Supreme Court case, Buckley v. Valeo. In that case, the Court overturned a provision in FECA that limited the amount of money a candidate could contribute to his/her own campaign, among other provisions.

  9. Money and Campaigning • The Maze of Campaign Finance Reforms • Soft Money: political contributions (not subject to contribution limits) earmarked for party-building expenses or generic party advertising • The McCain-Feingold Act (2002) banned soft money, increased amount of individual contributions, and limited “issue ads.” • 527s: independent groups that seek to influence political process but are not subject to contribution restrictions because they do not directly seek election of particular candidates

  10. Money and Campaigning • The Proliferation of PACs • Political Action Committees (PACs): created by law in 1974 to allow corporations, labor unions and other interest groups to donate money to campaigns; PACs are registered with and monitored by the FEC. • As of 2009 there were 4, 611 PACs. • PACs contributed over $372.1 million to congressional candidates in 2006. • PACs donate to candidates who support their issue. • PACs do not “buy” candidates, but give to candidates who support them in the first place.

  11. Money and Campaigning

  12. Citizens United v. FEC • A non-profit organization, Citizens United, created a film about Hillary Clinton (the organization claimed it was non partisan, but it was a documentary that made Clinton appear “unfit” as President) • The advertisements for the film violated the electioneering provisions of BCRA – but did it?? • The Supreme Court reversed parts of its decisions in McConnell v. FEC, 2003, (in which BCRA was largely upheld), and in a 5-4 decision, decided that corporations and unions should be permitted to create “electioneering” ads, since these ads are a form of political speech, and are protected by the 1st Amendment

  13. Money and Campaigning • Are Campaigns Too Expensive? • Fundraising takes a lot of time. • Incumbents do worse when they spend more money because they need to spend to defeat quality challengers. • The doctrine of sufficiency suggests that candidates need just “enough” money to win, not necessarily “more.”

  14. The Impact of Campaigns • Campaigns have three effects on voters: • Reinforcement, Activation, Conversion • Several factors weaken campaigns’ impact on voters: • Selective perception: pay most attention to things we agree with • Party identification still influence voting behavior • Incumbents begin with sizeable advantage

  15. Understanding Nominationsand Campaigns • Are Nominations and Campaigns Too Democratic? • Campaigns are open to almost everyone. • Campaigns consume much time and money. • Campaigns promote individualism in American politics. • Do Big Campaigns Lead to an Increased Scope of Government? • Candidates make numerous promises, especially to state and local interests. • Hard for politicians to promise to cut size of government

  16. Summary • Campaigns are media-oriented and expensive. • Delegates are selected through caucuses and primaries. • Money and contributions from PACs regulated by the FEC are essential to campaigns. • Campaigns reinforce perceptions but most often do not change minds.

More Related