Political Parties

1
Political Parties
2
What Is A Political Party?

• Group of people seeking to control government by
  winning elections and holding public office

3
What Do Political Parties Do?

• Nominating Function
• Recruit candidates
• Choose candidates
• Support candidates
• Informer-Stimulator Function
• Take stands on issues
• Criticize stands of other candidates

4
What Do Political Parties Do?

• Seal of Approval Function
• try to nominate qualified candidates
• monitor public officials

5
What Do Political Parties Do?

• Governmental Function
• Source of political appointees
• Link between legislative and executive branches

6
What Do Political Parties Do?

• Watchdog Function
• party out of power criticizes party in power
• forces public officials to be more accountable

7
Why Do We Have Two Major Parties?

• History
• Founding fathers were opposed to parties
• In the debate over the Constitution, the
  Federalists and Anti-Federalists became the first
  two parties
• Tradition
• Most Americans support 2 party system
• Minor parties have not made much progress

8
Why Do We Have Two Major Parties?

• The Electoral System
• Single member districts
• State election laws discourage minor parties
• American Ideological Consensus
• Americans tend to agree more than they disagree
• Major parties tend to take moderate stands to
  attract the most voters

9
Minor Party Contributions

• Innovators
• Can play spoiler role
• Important critics and reformers
• When minor party ideas get popular, they are
  usually adopted by major parties

10
Organization of Political Parties

• President is automatically leader of his party
• Party not in power has no comparable leader

11
How National Parties Are Organized

• National Convention meet in summer of each
  election year to nominate Presidential and Vice
  Presidential candidates, write rules and platform

12
Party Organization

• National Committee stages national convention
  and handles party business

13
Party Organization

• National Chairperson promotes party unity,
  raises money, recruits voter support
• chosen by party nominee

14
Party Organization

• Congressional Campaign Committees work to
  increase partys number of congressional seats

15
Party Organization

• State political parties
• Local political parties