Cornell Notes

Topic(s): Chapter 13- Political Parties

Big ideas, questions, main
ideas, vocab
Basis for political parties
Notes, answers, details, answers, examples, sentences, pg.
numbers
Washington warned against division caused by political parties.
They operate in an attempt to gain control of the country and
wield power to achieve their goals and implement their policy.
They do this by mobilizing and educating voters, creating
platforms, recruiting candidates and running campaigns, and
governing with their policy.

Mobilization and Parties work to sway those in the middle rather than just send
education out party die-hards because they need to gain the majority
ffrom the middle. Can use calling and canvassing to persuade
voters. Can use ads or other methods of communication to
support their candidates and criticize others.

Platforms Documents written by parties to assemble party stances a wide

array of issues and to lay out political plans. Written at
conventions with committees nominated by party leaders
(including nominee and runners up). Disputes over some
wording have caused rifts in parties. Popular demand may
cause some areas to shift.

Themes in the information:

Representative Government, Popular Sovereignty, Political Freedom

Other questions or inquiries:

I still have many questions about finance laws and how people still raise money with the
regulations (which seem to contradict themselves) still in place.

3 things learned:
1. Contributions to candidates are (theoretically) limited to $5,000
2. Ross Perot largely cost Bush Sr his re-election
3. Alignments and dealignments

Relate one thing learned to your life:

I should begin getting involved in the community and the Democratic Party if I want to be
recruited or taken seriously as a candidate by the party.

Candidate Recruitment
Fundraising and
regulations
Media
Dominant parties
dominate further
DNC and RNC
Hill Committees
Splitting Tickets: candidate
centered campaigns
Divides in the party
Notes Continued
Party leaders look for energized, charismatic members of the
party who can lead their own campaigns and attract voters and
donors. May be long time volunteers, local officials, etc. Both
parties have systems out of DC to look for these people for
congressional seats, state officials, etc.
FEC monitors flow of money and limits contributions in
campaigns. Orginzations must register with the FEC when they
spend more than $1,000 for a campaign in a single year.
Activities w/ expenses less than 120 days from election must be
funded with regulated money. Parties at every level can give up
to $5,000 to a federal candidate per election ($10,000 between
primary and general)
Television is a huge factor in how most people get their news.
Candidates use this by gaining press coverage (free of charge) in
a setting like a school or factory visit or political rallies. They
also buy commercials which are highly expensive parts of
campaigns. Presentation is key (think of Kennedy/Nixon debate
and H Clinton’s wardrobe choice.) Social media sites help
people connect with others, share info, and voice opinions.
Party with majority nationally gets to control committee
chairmanships, flow of legislation in congress, and
appointments to other branches of government. Majorities at
the state level control redistricting which lets them skew maps
in their favor to secure control longer.
National committees are made up of public leaders and activists
who guide the party and create a hierarchy of hundreds of
employees carrying out party operations. Chairpersons are chief
strategists who assist in guiding policy and operating campaigns
while insuring party ideas align with members.
Each party has committees in each house of congress (4 total)
which work to reelect incumbent members and find candidates
for open seats.
As campaigns become more about the candidate and less about
party affiliation, people are more willing to split the ticket and
vote for members of each party.
Sharp divides can be seen in cases like the 1968 Democratic
 Convention when young activists protested in the streets but
party elites chose Humphrey as the nominee. McGovern-Fraser
Commission was established to search for more diverse
candidates and heal some wounds. Dems changed party rules
to create superdelegates, shifted again to make 2/3 of them
committed to their states in 2016. Different policy decisions
lead to parties appealing to different demographics.

Party Realignments Historians have found 5 realignments in our history which

aligned with 5 “critical elections.” It’s generally agreed that the
causes are 1) a defeat so bad that the party fades and a new
one emerges and 2) large blocs of voters shift allegiance from
one party to the other.

1st Alignment 1800- power shifted from federalists to Democratic-

Republicans. 1824, party turned into Democratic Party under
Jackson, vote became more widespread, Whig party emerged in
opposition to Jackson to promote strong central govt. Whigs
eventually split over slavery.

2nd Alignment 1860- Northern dems joined with Whigs and abolitionists to
oppose slavery forming the Free Soil party, took Republican title
in 1860. Republicans dominated politics until 1932 with pro-
business agenda (often waved the bloody shirt) as Dems
became party of the south.

3rd Alignment 1896- Economic hardships brought Dems into alignment with
3rd parties as they shifted to support workers and prohibition.
Dems found their regulatory zeal here. Republicans held power.

4th Alignment 1932- FDR!!! FDR and New Deal during the great depression
shifted the party to strongly align with Dems (especially after
Hoover’s failures.) Dems aligned with unions, blue-collar
workers, minorities, farmers, white southerners, poor,
immigrants, and intellectuals to form ND coalition. Black people
began to shift from Repubs to dems.

5th Alignment 1960’s- When Johnson signed CRA64, he knew he was

surrendering the South. In 64 election, he handily won while
Goldwater won the solid South as a republican. Abortion and
integration further separated the Dems from the conservatives
of the south.

Dealignment People have became disillusioned with politics (Vietnam,

Watergate, forever wars, etc) and have become more
 Independent resulting in split tickets and divided government.

Hard money Money regulated by the FEC which can only come from PACs,
people, and parties. This goes directly to candidates.

Soft Money A way of getting around the hard money regulations by creating
issue ads which can influence voters w/o supporting a
candidate. Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (2002) blocked
issue ads, so soft money instead went to interest groups which
supported more extreme candidates and widened political
gaps. Power of parties was weakened.

Super PACs Created by rulings in Citizens United and McCutcheon which

rolled back soft money regulations and allowed these groups to
collect and spend unlimited money on anything as long as they
didn’t coordinate with the candidate.

Joint Fundraising JFCs are allowed by McCutcheon so that there is no limit on

Committees how much can be given to multiple candidates in a 2-year
stretch. Multiple people and groups come together for JFCs and
split donations.

Psychographics Demographics are the “who”- psychographics are the “why”

based on hobbies and values, etc. Valuable data which helps
candidates and parties understand how to appeal to audiences.
This is why data is so valuable to campaigns and why access to
it so highly sought after.

Third parties Formed as economic protest, single issue, splinter, or

ideologicals parties to bring new ideas to the table after being
shut out of the majority or ignored. Sometimes spoil elections
(most notably when Ross Perot gained 20% of the vote, no
electoral votes, split repubs, and gave Clinton the win.) Single
member districts, financing, exposure, winner-take-all voting,