Elections Campaigns Government Mr. Biddle. The War Room To gain insight on how a successful campaign...

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 Manager- Responsible 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

Debates- Candidates 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 Act- banned 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


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


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 RightsWomen’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


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.


Women held a lot of marches to gain support and protest for 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.


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 RightsAfrican-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


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.”


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

26th 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

26th Amendment

The 26th Amendment was ratified in 1971 lowering the voting age from 21 to 18

Elections Campaigns Government Mr. Biddle. The War Room To gain insight on how a successful campaign...

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