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GOVT 312: Parties and Campaigns

GOVT 312: Parties and Campaigns. Lecture 4: National Parties. Three Aspects of Parties. Organization – how parties organize as an entity unto themselves Electorate – parties and voters Government – how parties organize in government, especially the legislature.

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GOVT 312: Parties and Campaigns

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  1. GOVT 312: Parties and Campaigns Lecture 4: National Parties

  2. Three Aspects of Parties • Organization – how parties organize as an entity unto themselves • Electorate – parties and voters • Government – how parties organize in government, especially the legislature

  3. National Party Organizations • The National Committees • Democrats in 1972 adopted representation by population • Republicans have equal representation for each state. • Chairman: presidential candidate names chairman, committees select other members. • Rep: Robert “Mike” Duncan (http://www.gop.org/) • Dem: Howard Dean (http://www.democrats.org/)

  4. Internal Committees • Young (Democrats/Republicans) • Women’s committees • Minority Committees • Congressional Campaign Committees • House Dems: DCCC • House Reps: NRCC • Senate Dem: DSCC • Senate Rep: NRSC

  5. Two Party Strategies • Republicans: In the 1960s began to use computerized donor lists to raise money, which in turn was used to offer services to candidates • Democrats: • First opened party nominations in the 1960s to break the hold of the Southern Democrats. • Gave the national party control in the presidential nomination process. • Openness led to internal divisions, and it wasn’t until the 1980s that the Democrats started to mimic the successful strategy of the Republicans.

  6. Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) • Prohibited soft money donations • Increased hard money donations • Was believed that BCRA would be the death of national political parties

  7. Why voluntarily participate in any activity? • Consider the Collective Action Problem: • Personal costs are high for an individual to volunteer • The contribution of an individual to the outcome is small; it makes no difference if the person volunteers or not • The individual will receive the outcome of public policy (Public good) regardless of the outcome

  8. Selective Incentives • The Solution is to provide “Selective Incentives”: to provide benefits (or costs) to the individual that are not directly related to the public good • Unions: baseball bats • AAA: insurance • Government: IRS • Sierra club: singles outings

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