Splash Screen

A. A

B. B

C. C

D. D

Section 2-Polling Question

Which is the most important function of the political parties?

A B C D

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A. recruiting candidates

B. educating the public

C. helping to run and staff the government

D. dispensing patronage

Section 2

Membership and Organization

• Local, state, and national parties select their own officers and raise their own funds.

• The national party cannot give orders to the state or local parties.

• In many states, citizens must declare their party preference when they register to vote or when they vote in certain kinds of elections.

Section 2

Membership and Organization (cont.)

• Independent: Not supporting any political party

• Precinct: The basic voting unit; all voters of a precinct cast their ballots at the same polling place.

• Ward: Several adjoining precincts joined together

Section 2

• The national party organization has two main parts:

– National convention: Gathering of party officials that meets every four years to nominate the party’s presidential candidates.

– National committee: Comprised mainly of representatives from the 50 state party organizations, that runs the party.

Section 2

Political Party Functions• Functions:

– Recruit candidates to run for office.

– Educate the public on important issues facing voters.

–Play a key role in running and staffing the government

–Patronage: Favors given to reward party loyalty

• Watchdog: Party out of power assumes role of making sure the party in power governs appropriately.

A. A

B. B

C. C

D. D

Section 2 – DQ2

A B C D

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Special favors given to party members to reward party loyalty are called

A. patronage.

B. reward incentives.

C. party affiliations.

D. party gifting.

Section 3

Selecting Candidates

Direct primary: Election in which party members select people to run in the general election (most common)

•In most states a primary candidate needs a plurality, or more votes than any other candidate, not a majority.

•In a few states, if no one receives a majority, a runoff primary is held

Caucuses: Private meeting of party leaders to choose candidates.

A. A

B. B

C. C

D. D

Section 3 – DQ1

A B C D

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Private meetings of party leaders where candidates for office are chosen are called

A. open primaries.

B. nominating conventions.

C. closed primaries.

D. caucuses.

Section 3

Presidential Nominations• Ticket—candidates for president and vice president.

•Two generalizations about presidential primaries today:

• May be a delegate selection process or a presidential preference poll, or both.

• Candidates who in the primary either gets all the state’s convention delegates when they win or each candidate gets delegates based on how many popular votes he or she receives in the primary.

Section 3

Presidential Nominations (cont.)

• Criticisms of the presidential primary system include:

1. Extend too long in an election year

2. Image often becomes more important than issues

3. Few people participate in primaries: 58% v. 15-20%

A. A

B. B

C. C

D. D

Section 3 – DQ2

A B C D

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When delegates pick their candidates for president and vice president they have decided their party’s

A. prime candidates.

B. caucus.

C. ticket.

D. party leaders.

Section 3

The National Convention

• National committee of each major party chooses the site and dates for the national convention, which is held in late summer.

• Platform committee writes the party’s platform: a statement of its principles, beliefs, and positions on vital issues.

• Part of the difficulty in getting platforms accepted is that individual parts of the platform—planks—may divide the delegates

• Nomination of Candidates: Roll call of states, and the chairperson of each state delegation calls out the delegates’ votes.

• Candidate who receives a majority becomes the nominee.

Section 3

The National Convention (cont.)

• To nominate the candidates, the convention chairperson instructs the clerk to read an alphabetical roll call of the states, and the chairperson of each state delegation calls out the delegates’ votes.

• The candidate who receives a majority becomes the nominee.

A. A

B. B

C. C

D. D

Section 3 – DQ3

A B C D

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A party’s statement of its principles, beliefs, and positions on vital issues is called its

A. plank.

B. ideology.

C. ticket.

D. platform.

Figure 1

Figure 2

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