1.
1968: George Wallace's American Independent Party: the last third party presidential candidate to win electoral votes (racist votes from the South)
2.
2010 Supreme Court decisions on campaign finance: "money is speech" / few restrictions / opens the door to SuperPacs and millions in donations and unrestricted issue ads
3.
amicus curiae brief: the way in which an interest group gets its voice heard in court
4.
bundling: collecting many individual contributions thereby enhancing your influence without exceeding the contribution limit
5.
closed primary: a person can only vote in the party primary he is registered for
6.
demographic characteristics associated with higher voter turnout: higher income / more education / older / active partisan involvement / strong sense of community
7.
demographic characteristics of a "typical" Democrat: union / urban poor / professional / multi-ethnic
8.
demographic characteristics of a "typical" Republican: pro-business / wealthy / working class / rural / conservative protestants
9.
demographic groups: sectional, age, race, ethnicity, religion, income, job, urban/rural, education, gender, etc.
10.
differences between interest groups and political parties: narrower focus / no formal power in government
11.
disenfranchised: people who cannot vote for legal or logistical reasons
12.
divided government: when Congress is controlled by one party and the presidency by another
13.
first Democratic president: Andrew Jackson 1828
14.
first Republican president: Abraham Lincoln 1860
15.
first two political parties: Federalists (supported the new Constitution) / Anti-Federalists (opposed the Constitution and a larger central government)
16.
fundamental issue that distinguishes parties: power and responsibilites of state and national governments
17.
hard money: money that goes directly to a candidate; it has strict limits (currently $2400 indexed for inflation)
18.
impact of money on politics: a person gains access to a lawmaker > that person shares information with that lawmaker > the person influences the lawmaker's decisions > the person offers a bribe to the lawmaker
19.
iron triangle: mutually supportive network between interest groups, congressional committees, and bureaucratic agencies
20.
legal obstacles to voting: voter registration / voter ID's / Tuesday voting / felons / mental competence / dishonorable discharge from military
21.
lobbyists: people who for for interest groups that try to influence congressmen
22.
mid-term election: the election that falls between the presidential elections -> lower turnout; the voters often voice their displeasure over the president's first 2 years by voting against his party in congressional elections
23.
modern Democrats: started with FDR and his belief that government can help people and society with their problems
24.
modern Republicans: started with Reagan and his belief that government is too big and wasteful and that it hurts business productivity and individual initiative
25.
off-year election: the odd-year elections for local and state candidates; very low voter turnout
26.
open primary: a person can choose either primary to vote in
27.
PAC: Political Action Committee, the campaign fundraising arm of an interest group; they usually give to incumbents
28.
party convention: the party meeting in the summer in which the party delegates select a presidential nominee
29.
party influence in Congress: all committee chairmanships and leadership posts go to the majority party
30.
party influence in the executive agencies and bureaucracy: president appoints thousands to head agencies and departments: they control budgets / develop and implement rules
31.
party platform: an outline of the goals, ideology, and issue-positions of the party
32.
political demographics: political trends based on the characteristics of groups of people
33.
political socialization: the study of how people's political views are formed and shaped -> family has the greatest impact
34.
presidential caucus: a meeting of people who discuss and debate presidential candidates; delegates are then chosen for the more popular candidates
35.
revolving door: the potentially corrupting process by which people come and go in politics and business, especially lobbyists
36.
role of third parties in U.S.: make the large parties pay attention to small issues / safety valve for political anger / spoiler effect
37.
sectional differences: recent Red-Blue divide of the country: Blue (Dem) usually northeast, north central, west coast / Red (Rep) usually south, southwest, midwest and plains states
38.
soft money: previously unregulated money that went for "party-building purposes"
39.
straight-party voter: vote for candidates of the same party
40.
SuperPac: new powerful PAC's that raise millions of dollars promoting issues and candidates; the only restriction is they cannot work directly with the candidate
41.
the functions of political parties: nominate and elect candidates / unify the electorate / organize government / implement policy
42.
the process by which an interest groups emerges in our political system: alienated individuals > demonstrations are held > a movement forms > an interest group is established
43.
ticket-splitting: vote for some candidates from one party and other candidates from another party
44.
winner-takes-all plurality elections: this contributes to the development of the two-party system
