27 terms

Terms	Definitions
Incumbent	The person already holding an elective office.
Coattails	The alleged tendency of candidates to win more votes in an election because of the presence at the top of the ticket of a better-known candidate, such as the president.
Gerrymandering	Drawing the boundaries of legislative districts so that they are unequal in population.
Coattails	The alleged tendency of candidates to win more votes in an election because of the presence at the top of the ticket of a better-known candidate, such as a president.
Malapportionment	Drawing the boundaries of legislative districts so that they are unequal in population.
Sophomore surge	An increase in the votes congressional candidates usually get when they first run for re-election.
Position Issues	An issue about which the public is divided and rival candidates or political parties adopt different policy positions.
Valence Issue	An issue about which the public is united and rival candidates or political parties adopt similar positions in hopes that each will be thought to best represent those widely shared beliefs.
General Election	An election held to choose which candidate will hold office.
Primary Election	An election held to choose candidates for office.
Closed Primary	A primary election in which voting is limited to already registered party members.
Open Primary	A primary election in which voters may choose in which party to vote as they enter the polling place.
Blanket Primary	A primary election in which each voter may vote for candidates from both parties.
Runoff Primary	A second primary election held when no candidate wins a majority of the votes in the first primary.
Independent expenditures	Spending by political action committees, corporations, or labor unions that is done to help a party or candidate but is done independently of them.
Soft Money	Funds obtained by political parties that are spent on party activities, such as get- out-the vote drives, but not on behalf of a specific candidates.
527 Organizations	Organizations that, under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, raise and spend money to advance political causes.
Prospective voting	Voting for a candidate because you favor his or her ideas for handling issues.
Retrospective voting	Voting for a candidate because you like his or her past actions in office.
Only two men to have been elected President by the House of Representatives after Failing to win a majority in the electoral college	Thomas Jefferson (1800) and John Quincy Adams (1824)
Only Democratic Senator to be ru nning mate of a Republican presidential candidate	Andrew Johnson (1864)
Candidates for president who recieved more popular votes than their opponents but were not elected	Grover Cleveland and Al Gore got more popular votes but fewer electoral votes than their opponents.
President who won the largest percentage of the popular vote	Lyndon B. Johnson 61.7 % in 1964.
Only person to serve as Vice President and President without havieng been elected to either post.	Gerald Ford from 1973-1976
President who won the most electoral Votes	Ronald Reagan 525 in 1984
First woman to run for National Office on a major party ticket	Geraldine Ferraro democratic candidate for Vice President in 1984.
Clothespin Vote	The vote cast by a person who does not like either candidate and so votes for the less objectionable of the two, putting a clothespin over his or her nose to keep out the unpleasant stench.

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