Linkage Institutions 2014

1. Linkage Institutions 2014

2. Basic Rotation of US Elections http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_the_United_States Illustrates diff types of federal elections

3. Add to vocab • Candidate centered • Soft money • Gerrymandering

4. Elections are CANDIDATE Centered—much more than most other liberal democracies candidate selection here is an individual decision as opposed to an organizational decision by a political party. Here, you run, you raise the money you get the signatures, you get yourself on the ballot and voters vote for you. Even if parities involved, they have little control due to the unique direct primary.

5. Political Parties . . . In 1870, political cartoonist Thomas Nast depicted the Democratic Party with a donkey in a New York City-based magazine, "Harper’s Weekly." Andrew Jackson, a Democrat, had already used the donkey on posters during his 1828 presidential campaign In 1874, another Nast cartoon in "Harper’s Weekly" used an elephant to represent Republican voters who were dissatisfied with the prospect of President Ulysses S. Grant running for a third term. Nast used the elephant in another "Harper’s Weekly" cartoon two weeks later. Other political cartoonists picked up on the animals as symbols of their respective political parties. Today, the Democrats use the donkey as an unofficial symbol, while the Republicans officially adopted the elephant as their party mascot. Nast’s 1870 and 1874 cartoons are shown above.

6. The Conventional Wisdom: Versus: George Washington in 1796 farewell address: “Let me warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally. This spirit . . . exists under different shapes in government, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but in those of the popular form it is seen in its greater rankness and is truly their worst enemy.”

7. Functions of Political Parties . . . Are they vital to liberal democracy? • Elections: what is liberal democ w/o competitive elections? • Nominate candidates (but . . . rise of primaries weakens them) • key diff b/w them and Igs; • Raise funds for their candidates (but . . . Superpacs) (electioneering) • Run Campaigns (but candidate centered—use media) (electionereing) • Provide a platform of issues • Mobilize voters: Registering and GOTV • Giving cues to voters • What’s democracy w/o voters? • Linkage Institution • The party is essentially a link between the citizen and the state; party is one of the devices which makes possible citizen influence on the policies of government. • what is democ w/o citizen control? Unify diverse interests By bringing together diff people and ideas they help establish the means by which a majority can rule—w/o them the pol process would be too fragmented; but b/c they are a relatively heterogeneous group, they also prevent tyranny of the majority and act as a modifying inflence • Organizing Government • Articulate policies • Coordinate policy making

8. The Media and Campaigns In the US, campaigns are much more candidate centered—and less based on the _________ __________ Why? Media coverage: horserace aspect, polls, feeding frenzy, coverage of candidates background, focus on candidate gaffes Candidates have contributed to this: use media to bypass parties, sound bites, media events, negative commercials against opposing candidates, leaking information, image building (hiring consultants, picture of families , going on talk shows) Interest groups contribute: 501c (3) g0rups and 527 groups like SwiftBoat Veterans for Truth and Move on; remember independent expenditures and “issue” ads: see articles and expenditureshttp://www.opensecrets.org/527s/index.php But will Citizen’s United change this to be . . . . Interest group centered?

9. Things to remember about American Political Parties . . . . Our parties are relatively weak compared to other liberal democracies . . . Meaning: Decentralized—organized as a stratarchy Stratarchy is an organization in which each strata (or layer) is independent of every other strata. Each unit within a strata also is independent of every other unit within that strata.

10. Meaning . . . They can’t call for elections, their governing power might be weakened by divided government, they don’t have many ways to discipline members who don’t vote the party platform, and anyone can say they are running on their ticket—like it or not

11. In other systems, (like Canada), a bad party member can be relegated to the back bench, s/he won’t get “parachuted” into a safe seat, some systems even say you can lose your seat if you don’t vote with the party and the biggest consequence of all: if govt loses something they have designated a “vote of confidence” new elections mean the MP may lose his or her seat

12. Why are parties weak? • Federalism • Separation of powers • Primaries • Political culture • pluralism (many access points) • Lots of media outlets (don’t need parties to get message out) • Stronger Igs (other options) • NO MORE SOFT MONEY

13. It is an election by secret ballot in which voters choose a political party’s candidate for office in an election. an election that narrows the field of candidates before an election for office http://robinrobinsonforjudge.com/primary-sample-ballots-republican-and-democratic/ to see an example of a primary ballot

14. _________primaries(or pick-a-party) are those in which voters of any affiliation may vote for the slate of any party. • ________primariesare those in which only the voters affiliated with a party may vote in its primary. • ________primaries(or “jungle primaries” “free love” primaries) are those in which voters, regardless of affiliation, may choose the party primary in which they want to vote on an office-by-office basis. The blanket primary was struck down in 2001 by the Supreme Court in CA Democratic Party v. Jones.

15. Cartoon from the 1934 campaign to create a blanket primary See what we ended up with in Wa State http://www.kitsapgov.com/aud/elections/archive/12/PRIM0812%20Sample.pdf

16. Witness the sleazy fisher http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/DocumentCenter/View/2877

18. State To Appeal Blanket Primary Ruling Published: Sep 19, 2003 OLYMPIA - Washington state will appeal a federal court decision that abolished the state's popular 68-year-old blanket primary that allows voters to split their tickets and avoid party registration. Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican, and Attorney General Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, announced Friday that the state will ask the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear the decision made by one of its three-judge panels. The political parties called the new appeal a big waste of taxpayer money on a challenge that has no chance of succeeding. • The appeals panel, drawing from a U.S. Supreme Court decision that threw out a virtually identical system in California in 2000, said allowing all registered voters to pick nominees clearly violates the parties' constitutional right to pick their own standard bearers.

19. Are primaries for congressional seats direct or indirect? indirect primary noun U.S. politics. a primary in which membersof a party elect delegates to a party convention that in turn elects the party'scandidates. direct primary — n ( US ) government a primary in which voters directly select the candidates who will run for office

20. A few points about elections for congress: ALL primaries for Members of Congress are direct elections but voter qualification criteria varies The primaries for the nomination of presidential candidates are INDIRECT

21. General election ballot • http://www.kitsapgov.com/aud/elections/archive/12/Sample%20Ballot.pdf • Also to find your legislator: http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/

22. The history of soft money . . . • Buckley v. Valeo" (1976) ruled that contributions to campaign known as “hard money” could be regulated. • "Soft money" came to refer to unregulated money donated to political parties that was supposed to be used for state and local elections and generic “party-building” activities, including voter registration campaigns and get-out-the-vote drives. Soon it also was used for “issue ads” It was not regulated. Why issue ads? Buckley v. Valeo also held that only speech that expressly advocated the election or defeat of a candidate could be regulated (but not a discussion of issues)

23. the distinction between “issue ads” and “election communications” • Candidate X runs an ad that says, "I am a good person. Candidate Y is a bad person. Vote for me on election day." Because of the "Vote for me..." portion. . . "hard money." • Candidate Y runs an ad that says, "Candidate X has a record that includes awful things. If these awful things continue, people will come to your house, steal your money and shoot your dog. Be sure to vote on election day.“ No express advocacy so it is an “issue ad” and can be paid for with soft money

24. So soft money made parties stronger. . . . .

25. But The McCain Feingold Act (the BCRA) banned soft money. . . • . . . parties have less money to spend on e__________ function • As a result, many of the soft money-funded activities previously undertaken by political parties have been taken over by independent expenditure groups (SUPERPACS). Why are parties weak?

26. Why are parties weak? They can’t compete with superpacs

27. Bring Back the Smoke-Filled Rooms? The campaign-finance laws have made the presidential selection process a self-destructive mess. The question asked everywhere is, Why is this the field? How did it come to this? Desperate questions bring desperate answers, such that I have been overheard mumbling of late: "Maybe it's time to bring back the smoke-filled rooms." This was the nearly mythical system of selection in which party leaders and party bosses gathered over cigars, bourbon and branch to pick a candidate "who could win." The most famous smoke-filled room pick was William McKinley, anointed for the 1896 election by Ohio kingmaker Mark Hanna (though in fact Hanna got McKinley nominated over the opposition of GOP party bosses). http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/ED-AO613_wl2101_G_20111130151910.jpg

28. Effect of Weak Parties . . . Hard for voters to indicate an approach to governing: Hard to hold one party responsible Elected officials don’t do what party platform says Tendency to middle But . . . may lend itself to stability, be a better way to meet needs of all, and is in keeping with our individual emphasis

29. Review: Party functions Our parties are weak for many reasons but with a focus on media, primaries and campaign finance laws What’s the diff b/w parties supporters platforms Rising partisanship “Safire’s New Political Dictionary” defines a smoke-filled room as “a place of political intrigue and chicanery, where candidates are selected by party bosses in cigar-chewing sessions.”

30. Is there a “dimes worth of difference b/w the parties? Consider ideology http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/2012/11/06/the-10-biggest-differences-between-republicans-and-democrats/ Consider supporters

33. Religiosity The Gallup Religiosity Index, 2009. (light color indicates religious, dark nonreligious)[1]

34. Safety Net Policies Programs indented to protect from hardship or loss or to guarantee a minimal amount of physical, or financial security

35. http://www.cnn.com/election/2012/results/race/president http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/2012-exit-polls/table.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/2012-exit-polls/national-breakdown/ http://www.gallup.com/poll/154559/US-Presidential-Election-Center.aspx?ref=interactiveack • See other ahem . . . Cleavages  Potassium feldspar (orthoclase) is often pinkish in color and displays the property of cleavage, the tendency to break along flat planes. It is harder than glass

36. example Pick 2 cleavages (race, gender, education etc) and 2 sides. Explain why each side in the cleavage might prefer the candidate they do, given the platforms of the respective parties. Cleavage one: Education level Side a: high school graduate Side b: Post-graduate degree Cleavage two: Side a Side b

40. Reinforcing and Cross-Cutting Cleavages • Societal cleavages (e.g. race, class, religion, gender, region, etc) can produce conflict and disagreement among the population over politics and policy.Reinforcing Cleavages • If cleavages overlap with each other, this can heighten the conflict and be more divisive. • The disagreements produced by one division (e.g. class), will reinforce the divisions produced by another (e.g. race). • Finding agreement and compromise across groups in this situation can be that much more difficult. • Cross-cutting Cleavages • If cleavages cut across each other, this can lessen the presence of conflict across groups • Disagreements produced by one division can produce cross-pressures for individuals and mitigate the divisions they may experience by way of another cleavage • Cross-pressures help produce "bridges" across the cleavages, making agreement and compromise more likely See images to illustrate: http://desart.us/courses/3180/cleavages.html

41. Gender Gap in 2012 Vote Is Largest in Gallup's History by Jeffrey M. Jones PRINCETON, NJ -- President Barack Obama won the two-party vote among female voters in the 2012 election by 12 points, 56% to 44%, over Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Meanwhile, Romney won among men by an eight-point margin, 54% to 46%. That total 20-point gender gap is the largest Gallup has measured in a presidential election since it began compiling the vote by major subgroups in 1952. . . . There are a number of possible reasons for the increase in the gender gap this year. For example, Romney's business background may have been more appealing to men than to women. Obama's campaign stressed maintaining the social safety net, raising taxes on the wealthy, maintaining abortion rights, and requiring healthcare coverage for contraception -- all in contrast to Romney's more conservative positions on these issues of potential interest to women.

42. Groups are not monolithic either Latino/a vote by ancestry

43. See also http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2012/

44. Reminds me of “the most important candidate quality” in exit polls

45. The White Vote For a reflection see: By Karl Rove June 27, 2013 More White Votes Alone Won't Save the GOP To win the presidency in 2016, the party needs to do better with Hispanics. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323873904578569480696746650

47. Parties are COALITIONS Describe three groups that were significant in President Obama's electoral coalition and explain why each was important Describe the problems that President Obama may have in sustaining his winning coalition

50. The parties themselves have divisions with in them . . . Here Come the Economic Populists November 26, 2006