Election and CampaignsElection and Campaigns

Changing Face of CampaignsChanging Face of Campaigns

Media Money Campaign management Political strategist Funding Internet

Strategy to Win!Strategy to Win!

Win the undecided voters 1/3 to 1/2 of the electorate is not committed to

a party of candidate Focus on swing states Negative advertisement? Debates Television Internet

Campaign Finance (amounts in millions)Campaign Finance

(amounts in millions)2004 2000 1996

Bush $269.6

Kerry $234.6

All Others $169.7

Bush $95.5

Gore $48.1

All Others $208.0

Clinton $42.5

Dole $44.9

All Others $160.9

(FEC)

Elections Elections Primary Elections:

Nominate party’s candidate to compete in the General election CA in June

General election: Candidates for their party compete for vacant position Midterm elections is one type of general election: Vote for congress

Senate- 1/3 will run for re-election every 2 years House- 435 will run on the even years between presidential elections

(midterm elections) First Tues after first Mon in November on even years Presidential Elections another type of general election every 4 years from the last presidential election First Tues after first Mon in November in years divisible by 4

Regional Elections Non party affiliated positions School boards, city council, mayoral

Is this the Electoral College?Is this the Electoral College?

Or is it this?Or is it this?

Opinions on the Electoral College

Opinions on the Electoral College

“ archaic, undemocratic, complex, ambiguous, indirect, and dangerous.”

» American Bar Association

Electoral CollegeElectoral College

Definition The Constitutionally

designated method in selecting a president and vice president through electors.

The ConstitutionThe Constitution

Article II, Sec.1 Introduction of the electoral college in 1787 Procedures

Representative democracy: electors Majoritarian democracy: Winner Takes All State electors will send results to the pres. of the

senate. The pres. of the senate will certified results in

presence of Congress. Majority electoral votes rule

Changes to the Electoral CollegeChanges to the Electoral College

12 Amendment (1804) The original Constitutional procedure resulted

in a tie in 1800 btw Jefferson and Burr, the House awarded the presidency to Jefferson.

This amendment required the pres. and vp to be placed on 2 separate ballots.

Changes to the Electoral CollegeChanges to the Electoral College

23 Amendment (1961) The District of Columbia was given 3 electoral

college votes.

Electoral College TodayElectoral College Today

Characteristics When Americans vote, they are not voting for the

actual candidate, but actually voting for a candidate’s electors.

Winner takes all. 270 total electoral votes or more needed to win

presidency 435 (House Reps) + 100 (Senators)+ 3 (D.C. Reps)=538 538/2 = 269 + 1 more = 270 (majority)

Majority of electoral vote rule

Electoral Votes DistributionElectoral Votes Distribution

California – 55Texas – 34New York – 31Florida – 27Illinois – 21Pennsylvania 21Ohio – 20Michigan – 17Georgia – 15New Jersey – 15N. Carolina – 15

Virginia – 13Mass-12Indiana – 11Missouri – 11Tennessee – 11Washington -11Arizona – 10Maryland – 10Minnesota – 10Wisconsin – 10

Alabama – 9Colorado – 9Louisiana – 9Kentucky – 8S. Carolina – 8Connecticut – 7Iowa – 7Oklahoma – 7Oregon – 7Arkansas – 6

Kansas – 6Mississippi – 6Nebraska – 5Nevada – 5New Mexico -5Utah – 5West Virginia5Hawaii – 4Idaho – 4Maine – 4

N. Hampshire-4Rhode Island-4Alaska – 3Delaware – 3D.C. – 3Montana – 3North Dakota –3South Dakota -3Vermont – 3Wyoming – 3

Electoral CollegeElectoral College Election time line

First Mon in Nov. in the yrs divisible by 4, electors are chosen.

Nov-First Tues after the first Mon in Nov. is election day.

Dec-On Mon. following the 2nd Weds of Dec., the winning electors meet in state capitals to cast their vote

Jan-Jan 6, results are sent to the pres. of the Senate for certification.

If no candidate receives 270, the House of Representatives (one vote per Rep) selects a President from the candidates .

Jan- Pres. Is inaugurated on Jan. 20.

Electoral CollegeElectoral College

Strengths and Weakness of the System

Strengths and Weakness of the System

Strengths Cohesiveness Minority interests Political stability of the two party system Federalism Republic tradition Easier recounts Less incentive for fraud

Strengths and Weakness of the System

Strengths and Weakness of the System

Weakness “Faithless" Electors Reducing voter turnout. Disadvantage to third parties. Minority President Not representative

Weakness: Representative?Weakness: Representative?Popular Vote VS. Electoral Votes, 1968 1968 Popular

Votes % Electoral

College %

Nixon 31,785,148 43.4 301 55.9 Humphrey 31,274,503 42.7 191 35.5 Wallace 9,907,151 13.5 46 8.6 Others 242,568 ----- ----- ----- Popular Vote VS. Electoral Votes, 1976 1976 Popular

Votes % Electoral

College Votes

%

Carter 40,825,839 50.03 297 55.2 Ford 39,147,770 47.97 240 44.6 Others 1,682,737 2.00 1 0.2 Popular Vote VS. Electoral Votes, 1996 1996 Popular

Votes % Electoral

College %

Clinton 47,401,054 49.2 379 70.4 Dole 39,197,350 40.7 159 29.6 Perot 8,085,285 8.4 ----- ----- Others 1,519,573 1.7 ----- -----

Weakness: Minority PresidentsWeakness: Minority Presidents

The candidates who received a plurality of the popular vote did not become president. 1824 John Quincy Adams 1876 Ruthford Hayes 1888 Benjamin Harrison 2000 ?

Weakness: Minority PresidentsWeakness: Minority Presidents

Elections of 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000. The candidates who

received a plurality of the popular vote did not become president.

State EC Pop.

(mill)

IL 21 B-5

G-9

PN 21 B-6

G-5

ID 4 B-3

G-2.5

MI 4 B-4

G-3.5

Case Study: 2000 ElectionCase Study: 2000 Election

Unprecedented Election 5 weeks to resolve

presidency dispute Extended process of

counting and then recounting of Florida

Presidency based on Supreme Court decision

Many irregularities in Florida's election

Gore received 543,816 more popular votes than Bush, but lost the electoral college

Case Study: 2000 ElectionCase Study: 2000 Election

Role of the Media in debacle Hour after polls closed

TV networks, first called Florida for Gore.

Hours later, after all of the polls closed the networks retracted and called the state for Bush.

Then later retracted that call as well.

Case Study: 2000 ElectionCase Study: 2000 Election

Irregularities Florida Palm Beach "butterfly

ballot", produced an unexpectedly large number of votes for third-party candidate Patrick Buchanan

Some 50,000 alleged felons from the Florida were turned away at the polls.

Case Study: 2000 ElectionCase Study: 2000 Election

Florida debacle Florida law provided for an

automatic recount due to the small margins.

Four counties recounted by hand.

Florida law also requires certification and reports by 5 pm on Nov. 14.

Counties sued to extend the deadline.

Bush’s counter suit to keep deadlines.

Case Study: 2000 ElectionCase Study: 2000 Election

Florida debacle Minimal standard:

Bush won by 1,665 votes.

Palm Beach standard: Bush won by 884 votes.

Two-corner standard: Bush won by 363 votes.

Strict standard: Gore won by 3 votes.

Case Study: 2000 ElectionCase Study: 2000 Election

Case Study: 2000 ElectionCase Study: 2000 Election

Case Study: 2000 ElectionCase Study: 2000 Election

Election Results Official Florida count

gave the victory to Bush by 537 votes.

This is the tightest race of the campaign (at least in percentage terms by 0.009%.

2000 Election Final Results2000 Election Final Results

2000 Popular Votes

% Electoral College

%

George Bush

50,461,092 47.9 271 50.46

Albert Gore

50,994,086 48.4 266 49.3

Ralph Nader

2,882,728 2.7 0 0

Others 1,039,754 1.0 0 0

Post 2000 ElectionPost 2000 Election

Reform Hilary Clinton talked about

abolishing the electoral college.

Passage of the Help America Vote Act.

US fed govt to provide funds to replace manual to electronic voting.

Maine-Nebraska method guarantees two electoral

votes to majority winner, and second place candidate receives one electoral vote.

QuizQuiz

Should the electoral college be maintained or eliminated?

Campaign Finance ReformCampaign Finance Reform

1974 Revamped Federal Election Campaign Act Contribution Limits: Public Financing Spending Limits Disclosure Federal Election Commission

2002 McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Act Limits on the acceptance and use of soft money A ban on “non-partisan” issue ads funded by soft

money from corporations and labor unions Legal limits on hard money raised