Election Campaigns

1
Election Campaigns
Vote
Conventions
2
Phases of Political Campaigns

• Potential candidates begin testing the water 1½
  - 2 years before the election.
• Primary campaigns begin about 1½ years before the
  election.
• Primaries in most states - December-April
  (a few in May and June)
• Party caucuses in spring
• State party conventions early summer
• National party conventions summer
• Main campaign August November
• Election in November

3
What is the objective?

• To win enough votes in the
• Electoral College to assure victory
• for their partys candidate.
• 538 voters in the Electoral College
• Must have 270 votes to win Presidency.

4
Balancing Priorities

• In the primaries small states critical
• Because of early primaries
• Dont want to be labeled a loser
• In main election big states critical
• Because of Electoral College system
• Big populations

New Hampshire
Texas
5
Campaign Strategy

• Aggressive attack?
• Low-key approach?
• Slogans?
• Themes?
• Issues to emphasize?
• on TV? Radio? Newspapers?

versus
?
6
Campaign Organization

• Strong organization essential
• Campaign manager
• Political advisors
• Specialists
• State party officials
• Local party officials
• Field workers (volunteers)

7
TV and the Candidates Image

• Desire to appear presidential
• People believe what they see
• Packaging
• News coverage (often staged)
• TV news most common source of news
• Political commercials
• Televised debates

8
Financing Campaigns

• Very expensive
• In 2000, Bush and Gore spent 629 million in
  about 14 weeks of main campaign.

9
Financing Campaigns

• For the 2012 campaign, there
• is talk that Obama will
• probably raise over 1 billion.
• Soooo . . . Campaigns are getting more
• expensive each election cycle.

10
Campaign Finance Rules

• Until 1970s campaign money came entirely from
  contributions
• Suspicions about what candidate promised in order
  to get contributions
• Wealthy had too much power
• No limits on how much could be contributed.

11
Reform of Campaign Laws

• Principals of reform
• Public funding of campaigns
• Place limits on spending
• Public disclosure
• Only individuals (people, not corporations) could
  donate max 1000
• No donations from corporations, unions, etc.

12
Growth of PACs
Political Action Committees

• Individual (including corporations) can give PAC
  max of 5000
• PAC can give candidate max 5000
• PAC can contribute to many candidates

13
Soft Money

• Money for general purposes not designated for a
  specific candidate
• Includes non-money donations
• Disclosure issues

14
Recent Reform Efforts

• Prohibit soft money donations
• Ceilings on spending
• Full disclosure
• Stakes are high
• Who will control government?

However
15
Money and Ethics
16
ASSIGNMENT
Work with your partner

• Your ideal candidate has
• agreed to run for President. Based
• upon what you learned today
• 1) Create a timeline for his/her campaign in
  2012.
• 2) What 3 issues will be most important to your
  ideal candidate and what position will he/she
  take on those 3 issues?

Issue 1 ___?____ Position ________ ________?____
___
Issue 2 ___?____ Position ________ ________?____
___
Issue 3 ___?____ Position ________ ________?____
___