Campaigning

Taking active roles as citizens at the local, state, and national levels

Campaigning- Purpose

Without going getting their message heard, voters would not know who these people were or

what they stood for

Campaign Process• Canvassing: Party volunteers go door to

door• Ask for votes• Take public opinion polls

• Endorsements: get a popular person to support their candidate publicly

• Advertising and Image Molding: people work to project a certain attitude or image

Campaign (Propaganda) Techniques

• Tactics used by interest groups to get their candidates elected– Glittering generalities– “Just Plain Folks”– Endorsements– Bandwagon– Symbols– Stacked Cards

Glittering Generality

“George Bush: Making the World Safe for Democracy”

Just Plain Folks

• George Bush rides his pickup truck– just like you and me.

• Well, YOU at least.

Endorsements

• George Bush endorses Arnold Schwarzenegger during the California recall election

Bandwagon

Symbols

• Use of the flag or other patriotic symbols to illicit positive responses from voters

Stacked Cards (Testimonials)

• Giving one side of the issue

• Served as chair of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus

Campaign Financing

• Public Funding: – The Presidential Election Campaign

Fund gives money to candidates who have raised $100,000 on their own

– The two major parties split the fund in half if they promise not to accept any other contributions.

Campaigning Financing

–Private Funding• Hard Money: individual donations

made directly to a candidate

• Soft money: donations made indirectly to a candidate’s campaign through another organization like his political party

Political Action Committees

• PAC’s are organizations formed by businesses and interest groups to fund a candidate’s campaign

– they are a major source of soft money

– Big businesses filter money through these organizations to a political party

Campaigning Funding

• Campaign Finances pay for

–Ads (television and newspaper)

–Pamphlets

–Touring states and districts

–Campaign employees

Controversy over Campaign Finance

• Arguments:– Money mainly helps incumbents (people

already in office)

– Middle and Low class people will never be able to raise enough funds to compete with wealthy candidates

– Federal Election Commission tries to monitor where funding come from

Funding