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Election campaigning

Election campaigning. Terms of (dis)Union Confederation 60 Years On. Wednesday, April 1, 7:30-9:30pm Inco Lecture Theatre – room IIC-2001 (All Welcome – free parking in lot 18) Panel Discussants Terry Bishop-Stirling, History Christopher Dunn, Political Science Jim Feehan, Economics

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Election campaigning

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  1. Election campaigning

  2. Terms of (dis)Union Confederation 60 Years On Wednesday, April 1, 7:30-9:30pm Inco Lecture Theatre – room IIC-2001 (All Welcome – free parking in lot 18) Panel Discussants Terry Bishop-Stirling, History Christopher Dunn, Political Science Jim Feehan, Economics Russell Wangersky, The Telegram Jeff Webb, History Moderator Doug Letto, CBC TV

  3. Reprieve • Research papers now due Thursday, April 2nd • Remember that a good paper has an introduction and a conclusion and carries the argument through • You may use subsections and subheads • Be sure to document sources you use • You can use any consistent form of documentation • Be sure to PROOFREAD!

  4. New Political Science Curriculum Information Meeting 1:00-1:50pm Wednesday, April 1 Room SN-2105 For returning Political Science Honours, Majors and Minors Topics Course renumbering New courses New requirements New prerequisite policy "Grandfathered" status Sample course patterns Questions and answers

  5. Parties and the problems confronting them: • Declining memberships • Parties find members useful to establish ‘presence’ (Susan Scarrow), but they have fewer of them • Declining party identifications • Demise of the (party) partisan press • `In your face’ media • The 500 channel universe – how do you get attention to your message? • More critical voters?

  6. Solutions which parties try: • Catch-all strategies: bid for support wherever it can be found • Cartel strategy: share power with others • Reflecting both, efforts to repackage themselves, improve presentation in the media - new style election campaigning

  7. Election campaigns and what they were and are (becoming) like • Passive dull (Northern Europe) • Parties prepare programmes • Parties may use survey research to determine optimal positions • Campaign posters on special billboards • Leaders make statements and comments – try to get covered on the evening news • Leaders and sub-leaders participate in formal debates on TV, in varying formats

  8. More active campaigning: • Advertising and marketing agencies involved • Parties decides its message and sticks to it • Volunteers canvass door to door (UK, Canada) • Party is on message -- cf. ‘New Labour” • Telephone banks • The party and the way in which it behaves in office is the message – New Labour avoiding its former ‘tax and spend’ image • $$$

  9. Election campaigning in the U.S. • The permanent campaign: • Primary elections • The annual and biannual election cycles • Old style election campaigning: • relied heavily on party workers, canvassing, getting people to vote the ticket • ‘Shurmeystein’s law’ • Vote early and often • E-day – pulling the vote • $$

  10. New style election campaigning: • Candidate-centred rather than party-focused • Extensive involvement of campaign professionals: • Campaign professionals plan and map the campaign using polls, focus groups, • Reliance on • Advertising and negative advertising • Targeted mailing • Telephone banks and telephone messaging • Campaign under constant revision depending on the outcomes of different tactics • $$$$$$$$....$

  11. Campaign finance – American style • Some public finance for presidential candidates • Candidates build their own campaign organizations • Candidates and parties raise their own funds from • Wealthy donors • Direct mailings • Political Action Committees (PACs) established by • Candidates and prospective candidates • Organized interests • Firms

  12. American Parties and their role in election campaigns • The changing shape of American parties: • National Committees old-style – Committees without Power – natl party = confederation of state and local parties • National Committees new-style: super-PACs • The Republican National Committee in the late 1970s, early 1980s • Use of targeted direct mailings to raise funds • Money and information targeted to first time candidates • Funds to state parties • Competing centres of power • House and Senate campaign committees

  13. Public finance • A major issue and a major problem: • Who should get public support? • On what basis? • Equal shares? • Proportional to vote? • How much for new candidates or new parties? • Does public finance make parties lazy – encourage cartelization • Katz & Mair, 1995: parties as a service provided by the state

  14. Trends: • State finance in many countries, but problematic: • Should parties be able to raise money beyond the amounts granted by the state? • Should some aspects of parties’ activities (political education, research) be financed but not others (such as campaigning)? • Should everyone pay?

  15. The Obama Campaign • Highly professional • Very centralized • Use of social networking sites • Yet intensive use of volunteers • But volunteers shadowed by paid worker • Intense engagement of earnest young people • Trying to continue after the election • Can it be sustained?

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