THE NOMINATION GAME
Nomination:
The official endorsement of a
candidate for office by a
political party.
THE NOMINATION GAME
The Long Campaign
 Other countries have short
campaigns- generally less than
2 months.
 U.S. campaigns (especially for
President) can last 18 months
or more.
And it seems to be getting
longer each year!
THE PARADOX OF CAMPAIGNS
Candidates must
appeal to people
further from the
political center in the
primaries and
caucuses, but must
later appeal to the
center in the general
election.
THE NOMINATION GAME:
COMPETING FOR
DELEGATES
Some states use the caucus method of
sending delegates to national
convention.
 Caucus: Formerly meetings of party
leaders, these are now meetings of
party members used to select
delegates and nominees.
 Now organized like a pyramid from
local precincts to the state’s
convention.
 Local caucuses --- > district
convention ---> state convention --->
national convention. Each level
selects delegates to attend higher
level.
 Iowa’s is first and is considered the
most important.
THE NOMINATION GAME: COMPETING FOR
DELEGATES
Primary: Elections in which
voters choose the nominee
or delegates pledged to the
nominee.
3 Types of Primaries
Open
Closed
Blanket
New Hampshire is the first
primary
CHOOSING DELEGATES

The McGovern Fraser
Commission in 1968 wrote
new rules to increase the
number of female and
minority delegates in the
Democratic Party

Superdelegates are awarded
seats based on the office
they hold, such as being a
member of Congress. They
bring experience and
represent the elite.
TYPES OF PRIMARIES
 Open primaries allow party members and non
affiliated voters to vote.
 Independents may vote, voters get ballot of any
one party they wish crossing of party lines
allowed --> danger of 'raiding.’
Closed primaries allow only party members to vote.
Used in most states.
Only registered party members can vote for
partisan offices, no crossing of party lines.
 Blanket (“free love"): Independents may vote, voters
can "mix and match” their votes (vote for candidates
of different parties for different offices)
THE NOMINATION GAME: CRITICISMS (BUT THE
CANDIDATES WILL DEFEND THE SYSTEM)
1. Marathon Campaigns
 Disproportionate attention to the early ones.(Iowa and NH).
 Money plays too big a role.
 Participation in primaries and caucuses is low and voters are more
extreme.
2. Frontloading

a state holds its primary early to capitalize on media attention.

Politicians can’t do their duties when running

Money plays too big of a role

Regional factors are exaggerated and participation is low- leads to extreme
voters
3. Super Tuesday

Southern states moved their primaries to same day in March

Lots of media attention and money too big of a role
ANALYSIS OF PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATING
SYSTEM.
 Pro
 Highly participatory.- caucuses,
primaries, conventions.
 Highly representative.
 Weeds out weaker candidates.
 Con
 Low rates of turnout.
 Costly.
 Too lengthy.
 Does not test candidates for
qualities they need as President.
Too much emphasis on media
game.
 Delegates at caucuses and
conventions tend to be
unrepresentative: more
ideological, more activist, more
educated, less moderate, much
more wealthy.
FRONT-LOADING IN THE DELEGATE SELECTION
PROCESS
THE NOMINATION GAME: SUGGESTIONS TO FIX
THE SYSTEM

National Primary
 Primary on same day
 A run off between the top two in each party would
then be held shortly thereafter

Regional Primary
 States in each time zone would vote once a week
for a month
 Advantage goes to the time zone that goes first
CONVENTIONS
Have lost their drama.
 Winner is known beforehand.
 emphasis on ‘image' instead of
'scrimmage,' 'ratification rather than
nomination.'
 Selection of VP nominee.
 Chosen by pres. nominee and
rubber stamped by convention.
 'Balancing the ticket.'
Have lost their viewers.
 Networks aren’t showing as
much.
1964 Democratic Convention
 Viewers of 2004 convention: 22
million (covered by all major
broadcast and cable news channels)
 Viewers of a single episode of 2004
Survivor: 58 million (covered by
CBS)
2004 Democratic Convention
CONVENTIONS
 Are still important to the party to get the
base organized and motivated (Pep
Rally).
 Conventions are carefully scripted and
they develop positions and promote
political representation.
Day 1: Keynote speech
Day 2: Party platform: Statement of its
goals and policies and general beliefs.
Day 3: Official nominations and
candidate speeches.
 Goal: Reconciliation and unification of
party by end of convention.
THE CAMPAIGN GAME
Technology has changed the nature of political campaigns
 Moving away from attending political rallies to connecting with the candidates
through TV and the Internet
 Goal is to use the media to get attention
 Direct Mail
 Locating potential supporters by sending information and a request for
money to huge lists of people who have supported candidates of similar
views in the past
 Organizing the Campaign (Going to needs LOTS of $$$$$$$$$)
 Get a campaign manager
 Get a fund raiser
 Get a campaign counsel
 Hire media and campaign consultants
 Assemble a campaign staff
 Plan the logistics
 Get a research staff and policy advisors
 Hire a pollster
 Get a good press secretary
 Establish a website

MONEY AND CAMPAIGNING


The early 1970s represented
a time when Congress
attempted to take back
power from the Executive
Branch
Believed LBJ & Nixon had
expanded the power of the
Presidency too much
 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
(War Powers Act)
 Watergate and HUGE
illegal campaign
contributions
MONEY AND CAMPAIGNING
Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974
 FEC: Created by law in 1974 to administer
campaign finance laws for federal elections.
 Public financing of presidential elections
(matching funds)
 Limited spending & required disclosure
 Limited contributions to campaigns
 Soft Money
 Contributions (with no limits) used for
party-building expenses or generic party
advertising
BUCKLEY V. VALEO (1976)
 The Supreme Court ruling upheld part of the act and
struck down part of the act as unconstitutional.
 They upheld:
 Limits on individual contributions (hard money)
 Disclosure and reporting of contributions
requirement
 They struck down:
 Limits on campaign spending
 Limits on using personal/family resources
 Limits on independent spending (soft money)
THE PROLIFERATION OF PACS
 Definition: Created by law in 1974 to
allow corporations, labor unions and
others to donate money to campaigns.
 Over 4200 PACs donating over $288
million to Congressional Candidates
alone in 2006
 Number of these has sextupled since
1974.
 Contributions of these to congressional
candidates have risen by more than
tenfold.
 Percentage of campaign money from
PACs has also risen dramatically.
 Donate to candidates who support their
issue, regardless of party affiliation
Not sufficient data that PACs “buy”
candidates
BIPARTISAN CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM ACT
 McCain Feingold Act (2002)
Eliminated soft money
Set limits of $2000 for individual contributions and
$5000 for PACs, indexed for inflation.
Banned independent ads 30 days before primaries
and 60 days before a general election
527S AND 501(C)S
 527s are independent
organizations that run
ads that are not
sponsored by a political
party or a candidate.
They can spend
unlimited amounts of
money.
 501(c) groups allow
donors to remain
anonymous.
They cannot spent more
than half of their funds
on political activities.
http://thedailyshow.cc.com/v
ideos/1907r0/so-you-wantto-bee-a-------527organization
CITIZENS UNITED V. FEC (2010)
 527s and 501(c) groups are
considered to be persons
under the law, with free
speech rights.
 The 30 and 60 day limits on
ads were ruled to be
unconstitutional violations
of the First Amendment.
SUPERPACS
• Officially known as
“independent
expenditure only
committees,” Super
PACS may engage in
unlimited spending
independent of
candidate and parties.
• They can raise funds
from corporations,
unions, and other
groups without limits.
http://thecolbertreport.cc.
com/videos/av6bvx/colber
t-super-pac---coordinationresolution-with-jon-stewart
MCCUTCHEON VS. FEC (2014)
• Federal aggregate limit is set at
$117,000 per election (total amount
you can donate to all federal
candidates)
• McCutcheon wants to give more than
$117,000
• Supreme Court rules for McCutcheon
• Got rid of aggregate limit but kept in
place the limit on individual
contributions to each candidate set
under McCain/Feingold ($2600 per
election)
• “The government may no more
restrict how many candidates or
causes a donor may support than it
may tell a newspaper how many
candidates it may endorse”- Chief
Justice John Roberts
BIG PICTURE OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE
• 1974 law is still around
• FEC is still around
• PACs are still around
• McCain/Feingold tried to limit the
amount of money in politics- banned
soft money
• Hydraulic Theory of Money
• 527s
• Citizens United
• Super PACs
• What is the role of money in politics?
• Does it have a corrupting power?
3 IMPACTS OF CAMPAIGNS AND SOME OTHER
STUFF
1. Reinforcement of voters’ preferences for candidates
2. Activation- getting supporters to contribute money or ring
doorbells
3. Conversion- changing the minds of voters (rarely happens)
• Selective Perception- voters pay attention to what they already
agree with
• Party Identification still influences voters
• Incumbent advantage
• Campaigns are getting longer
• Today they promote individualism
• Campaign promises mean more government spending and
programs