Unit 3: Linkage Institutions

Unit Overview of Concepts, Topics, and Readings

The following guide is NOT intended to be all-inclusive. It is designed to be used in conjunction with
your lecture notes, handouts and supplemental readings, PowerPoints and the textbook to help guide
you in studying for the exam.

Linkage institutions are the mechanisms that allow citizens to organize and communicate their
interests and concerns. Among these are political parties, elections, political action committees
(PACs), interest groups, and the mass media.

Textbook: Chaps 13, 14, 15 & 16

Major Goals/Objectives for the Unit:

1. Examine elections, election laws, and election systems on the national and state levels
○ Understand the electoral procedures for presidential and general elections and
the impacts of these procedures on campaigns, voter behavior and election
results
○ Compare and contrast congressional and presidential elections and explain the
incumbency advantage
○ Under the stand the role of the electoral college in the process
2. Examine the nature of modern political campaigns
○ Assess the role of candidates and their staff in the campaign process
○ Evaluate the ways campaigns use the media to reach potential voters
○ Have an awareness of the development and the role of PACs and campaign
finance laws in elections
3. Examine the political roles played by a variety of lobbying and interest groups
○ Explain why some interests are represented by organized groups while others are
not, and the consequences of this difference in representation
○ Understand what interest groups do, how they do it, and how this affects both the
political process and public policy
○ Evaluate why certain segments of the population are able to exert pressure on
political institutions and actors in order to obtain favorable policies
4. Examine the media as a major force in U.S. politics and develop an understanding of its
role it plays in the political system
○ Evaluate the impact of the media on public opinion, voter perceptions, campaign
strategies, electoral outcomes, agenda development, and the images of officials
and candidates
○ Understand the often symbiotic and frequently conflictual relationship among
candidates, elected officials, and the media
○ Evaluate the goals and incentives of the media as an industry and how those goals
influence the nature of news coverage
 ○ Assess the consequences of the increasing concentration of major media outlets
in fewer hands, as well as the growing role of the Internet

Readings:
Abernathy & Waples: Chapters 13, 14, 15 and 16
Required Court Case: Citizens United vs. FEC

Important Definitions/Terms/Identifications:

Campaigns and Elections & Finance:

15th Amendment
17thAmendment
19th Amendment
24th Amendment
527s
Absentee Ballot
Ballot measures: initiatives, referendums
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002
Buckley v. Valeo
Campaign Reform Act of 1974
Campaign staff (campaign manager, etc.)
Candidate Centered Campaign
Caucus
Citizens United v. FEC
Closed Primaries
Coattail effect
Delegates
Demographic Characteristics
Electoral College
Election of 1800 / 12th Amendment
Election of 2000
Electioneering
Elitist Theory
Federal Electoral Commission
Franking privilege
Frontloading
General election
Gerrymandering
Get out the vote (GOTV)
Grassroots Lobbying
Hard money
Incumbent
Incumbency advantage
Independent Expenditures
Issue Advocacy Ads
Invisible primary
Issue Credibility
Lobbying
LULAC v. Perry
Majority-minority districts
Mandate
McConnell vs. FEC
McCain-Feingold Act of 2002
Midterm election
National conventions
Open Primaries
Party Networks
Party Polarization
PACs (Political Action Committees)
Pluralist Theory
Political Efficacy
Poll Tax
Pollster
Presidential debates
Primaries (open v. closed, etc.)
Proportional v. winner-take-all delegate allocation
Rational Choice Voting
Reapportionment
Recall
Redistricting
Referendum
Retrospective Voting
Revolving Door
Shaw v. Reno
Single member districts
Split Ticket Voting
Super Delegates
Super PAC
Soft money
Spot ad
Straight ticket voting
Superdelegates
Swing States
Ticket splitting
Unpledged Delegates
Voter canvass
Voting Rights Act 1965
Winner-take-all electoral system

Interest Groups:

Class action lawsuits

Electioneering
Free rider problem
Grassroots organization
Interest Groups: AMA (Amer Med Assoc), AFL-CIO, NAACP, NRA, AARP, Sierra Club,
NOW, PhRMA, NARAL
Labor unions
Lobbying (grassroots v. direct)
NAFTA
Public interest groups
Revolving door
Trans Pacific Partnership

Media:
Agenda setting
Confidentiality of sources
Equal time rule
Fairness doctrine
Federal Communications Commission
Framing
Horse Race Journalism
Media conglomerates
Narrowcasting
New York Times vs. US
New York Times vs. Sullivan
Press secretary
Prior restraint
Right of reply rule
Sound bites
Spin doctor
Telecommunications Act of 1996
White House press corps