Elections Campaigns
Government
Mr. Biddle
The War Room

To gain insight on
how a successful
campaign is ran, we
will be watching a
documentary
following the 1992
Campaign of
President Bill Clinton.
National Elections
National Elections are held every 2 years
 Senators and Representatives are
elected every 2 years
 Presidential Elections are held every 4
years. (Very Lengthy and Complex)
 Candidates for these high offices must
have access to hundreds of millions of
dollars to run successful campaigns.

Electing the President

Candidates for
President begin
organizing their
campaign a year
before the elections
Primary Elections

The primary races
are held in the
spring.
 Each party votes on
candidates to select
who will represent
that party in the
General Election.
2008 Democratic Candidates
2008 Democratic Candidates
Hillary Clinton
 Barack Obama
 John Edwards
 Joe Biden
 Christopher Dodd
 Mike Gravel
 Dennis Kucinish
 Bill Richardson

2008 Republican Candidates
2008 Republican Candidates
Rudy Giuliani
 Mike Huckabee
 Duncan Hunter
 Alan Keyes
 John McCain
 Ron Paul
 Mitt Romney
 Tom Trancredo
 Fred Thompson

Electing the President Cont.
National Conventions are held in the
summer of the Presidential election
year.
 A National Convention is a ceremonial
affair where the political party selects
their candidate for the up coming
election and they discuss their platform.

Electing the President Cont.
Campaigns get more intense the closer
it gets to election day.
 During the final 8 weeks of the
campaign the candidates spend long
crazy hours traveling from state to state

– Sometimes they don’t even know where
they are.

Election Day is the First Tuesday after
the first Monday of November.
The Electoral College
In order to be elected President You
must win at least 270 of the 538
available electoral votes.
 A states total electoral points is the
same as the number of representatives
and senators it has in Congress.
(population)

– Plus Washington D.C. has 3
The Electoral College

The candidate who
wins the popular
vote typically wins
the electoral vote.
 But it is not always
the case.
 Ex. – The 2000
Presidential Election
The Electoral College
Presidential Campaigns must pay close
attention to the states with large
populations (CA,NY,TX,PA,FL)
 If a candidate won the 11 biggest states
they would get 270 points and win.
 Therefore the big states get a lot more
campaigning attention.
 If it appears the big states will be split
than the small ones become important.

Campaign Strategy

Campaign ManagerResponsible for the
overall strategy and
planning in a
campaign
organization
 James Carville was
President Clinton’s
Campaign Manager
Campaign Strategy

Campaign Managers make decisions like:
– Should the Candidate wage an aggressive
attack on their opponent?
– What should be the theme or slogan of the
campaign?
– What issues should be stressed?
– How much money is spent of
TV/Radio/Newspaper advertisement?
– What goes into advertisements?
Campaign Strategy

Field Workers- Help with
the smaller duties of a
campaign. (Usually
Volunteers)
–
–
–
–

Ring doorbells
Call voters by phone
Hang up signs
What ever it takes to get
votes
It is very important for a
candidate to maintain a
positive image and
his/her campaign crew
must help to keep it.
George Stephanopoulos
Campaign Strategy

DebatesCandidates come
together and
discuss issues
publically.
– Have been in every
election since 1976
– Are held late in the
campaign
– Influence the
undecided voters
Financing Campaigns

Running a campaign is very expensive
– A seat in Congress (1996) cost about
$1.5 million
– Presidential candidates spent $400 Million
– In 2004, Presidential and Congressional
candidates spent a combined $3.9 Billion

Up to the 1970’s candidates relied on
contributions from business
organizations, Labor Unions, and
interested individuals
Financing Campaigns

The old system
created problems,
b/c it gave people
with access to more
money a lot of
political power
 Candidates might
owe favors to big
businesses or
people who gave
them a lot of money
Financing Campaigns

The Federal Election Campaign Act of
1971
– Set a new system of campaign financing
for Federal elections based on 3 principles
1. Individuals can only donate up to $1,000
2. Set limitations on what a candidate can
spend (ruled unconstitutional)
3. A candidate has to publicly tell how much
was spent
Financing Campaigns

Political Action Committees (PAC)- an
organization designed to support
political candidates with campaign
contributions.
– A person can contribute up to $5,000 to a
PAC
– The PAC can’t give but $1,000 to the
candidate, but can use the money in other
places in the candidates party.
Financing Campaigns

Soft Money- Money
used in a campaign
for general purposes
for a party.
 Originally this
information didn’t
have to be
disclosed, but a
ruling in 1991 said it
did.
Financing Campaigns

Republicans got
more soft money
from big businesses
 Both parties felt that
soft money was the
key to victory
 1996 campaigns
raised huge issues
on soft money and if
it was being used
ethically
Financing Campaigns
In the 2000 elections each party raised
over $250 million in soft money
contributions
 The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Actbanned the donations of soft money to
national political parties, but it raised the
limit for individuals to donate to $2,000

Expanding Voting Rights

Voting is absolutely
vital to the success
of American
Democracy
 Americans select
more than 500,000
government officials
at all levels
Expanding Voting Rights

Suffrage- The civil
right to vote
 Today almost
anyone 18 years or
older can vote
 However, this has
not always been the
case in this country
Expanding Voting Rights

Before the American
Revolution women,
African-Americans,
and white males
who didn’t own
property were not
allowed to vote
 By the mid 1800’s
all adult white males
were allowed to vote
Expanding Voting Rights
Women’s Suffrage

Elizabeth Cady
Stanton and
Lucretia Mott
organized the first
women’s right
convention in 1848
 Stanton urged that
getting women the
right to vote should
be their first priority
Expanding Voting Rights
Women’s Suffrage

Women suffragists
were accused of
being unfeminine
and immoral.
 The Suffragists were
split into two groups,
one focusing on
getting the right to
vote via Constitution
and the other by
each individual
state.
Expanding Voting Rights
Women’s Suffrage

Women held a lot of marches to gain
support and protest for suffrage
Expanding Voting Rights
Women’s Suffrage

One of the most
famous speeches
given by a woman
suffragette was the
“Ain’t I a Woman”
speech by Sojourner
Truth at a women’s
convention in Akron,
Ohio.
Expanding Voting Rights
Women’s Suffrage

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B.
Anthony felt that the only way to gain
women’s suffrage was to have the
Constitution Amended.
 After WWI states began to individually grant
women the right to vote and Congress began
to accept the idea.
 19th Amendment- Went into effect in 1920,
guaranteeing women the right to vote.
Expanding Voting Rights
Women’s Suffrage
Expanding Voting Rights
African-American Suffrage

Up to 1870 African
Americans were not
given the right to
vote nationally
 The first effort to
extend suffrage to
African Americans
nationwide came
after the Civil War in
1870
Expanding Voting Rights
African-American Suffrage
The 15th Amendment
was ratified in 1870
 “No state can deprive
any citizen of the right
to vote on account of
race, color, or
previous condition.”

Expanding Voting Rights
African-American Suffrage
The 15th Amendment
did not result in full
suffrage for African
Americans
 A number of states set
up road blocks for
African Americans
 Particularly the
Southern States

Grandfather Clause

Only Voters whose
grandfathers voted
before 1867 were
eligible to vote
without paying a poll
tax or passing a
literacy test.
 This was declared
Unconstitutional in
1915.
Literacy Test

Used to keep
African Americans
from voting
 Very hard test
designed to make
a person fail
 The voting Rights
Acts of 1965 and
1970 outlawed
literacy tests
Poll Tax
An amount of money that a citizen had
to pay before they could vote
 You also had to pay for back taxes on
years you voted before
 You had to pay long before election day
and show the receipt the day you voted
 The 24th Amendment was ratified in
1964 outlawing poll taxes in National
Elections

– State elections in 1966(By Supreme Court)
Voting Rights Act of 1965

Opened the gates
for African American
involvement in
voting (especially in
the South)
 1960: 29% in the
South
 1990: 60% in the
South
th
26

Amendment
Originally the voting
age was 21
 The draft and the
Vietnam Conflict
started a movement to
lower the age to 18
 The argument was that
if a person was old
enough to die for his
country he should be
old enough to vote
th
26
Amendment

The 26th
Amendment was
ratified in 1971
lowering the voting
age from 21 to 18