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56 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
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What are Edwards basic functions of an election?
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Elect officials specified by law
Reveal public opinion about what government is doing or should be doing Influence public policy Evaluate officials' performance Evaluate campaign promises |
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What are some of the deeper effects of elections?
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Make people feel involved
Focus citizen frustration, thus prevent more serious political challenges Preserve a limited role for mass political action Make people feel involved Encourage peaceful political action, thus strengthen commitments in existing system |
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How have elections changed in Presidential elections?
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From party dominance to candidate dominance
From activist dominance to media dominance From organization dominance to money dominance—and some (largely ineffectual) efforts to control it |
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How have elections changed in Congressional elections?
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From party dominance to candidate dominance
Media dominance, money dominance, and “the incumbency effect” Increased gerrymandering—see the recent Texas case |
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What is gerrymandering?
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Gerrymandering is a form of boundary delimitation (redistricting) in which electoral district or constituency boundaries are deliberately modified for electoral purposes, thereby producing a contorted or unusual shape
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What is the incumbency effect?
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The advantages that elected representatives have over newcomers in getting re-elected.
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What are the stages of a presidential election?
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secret preprimary: filling the war chest (also known as the “money primary”)
silent primary: campaign for media attention state primaries and caucuses: locking up the nomination national convention: candidate’s “coming out party” general election campaign: holding your “base” and (usually) building coalitions popular election: getting out the vote Electoral College: the official election |
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What are some issues with elections?
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Money and corruption
Safety and accuracy of ballot and tallying(no paper trail) Photo ID requirements for voting Vote "anti fraud" or suppression techniques -Vote Caging "Challenge the registration status of voters to potentially prevent them from voting in an election -provisional ballots |
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What are some other forms of participation in elections?
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Social movements
Web Ballot initiatives |
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What is the normal vote?
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The proportion of votes that each party would win if party identification alone affected voting decisions
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What was important with the government and the democrats in 2008?
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They were taking over states that used to be primarily republican in the past.
Also of democrats in both houses. Partially due to GWB failure as a president. |
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What are the two styles of representation in government?
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delegate and trustee
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Define delegate?
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A delegate is a representative that will try to mirror their constiuents.
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Define trustee?
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This is where the representative will act indepently, trusting his or her own judgment of how to best serve the public interest.
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Define politico?
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This is when the representative will fit their representation to the political circumstances at hand
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What is descriptive representation?
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This means congress is a representive body that reflects the demographic composition of the population as a whole.
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Does congress have a descriptive representation?
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No, concerning AA and women
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Where are women and AA represented the least?
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Senate
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Who was the first woman speaker of the house?
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Nancy Pelosi
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What are must of the occupations for people in congress?
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They are mostly in bussiness or legal
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What are the six features of congress?
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Legislating
Budgeting Ratifying treaties (Senate) Confirming important appointments (Senate) Impeaching (Done by the house) and removing from office (Done by Senate) public officials Overseeing conduct of executive and judicial branches-hearings and Government Accountability Office |
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One of congresses six key functions is to ratify treaties, but not _________?
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Executive agreements
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One of congresses six key functions is to confirm important appointments, but not _________?
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Czars
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What are Czars?
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They are nicknames for adviser, director, administrator, or diplomatic envoy
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How does the senate elections increase or decrease the democratic representation
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They have two senators per state which gives equal representation
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What is reapportionment?
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This is done after the national census and then the congress will reallocate the house seats based on the states population
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What is redistricting?
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This is done for states that gain or lose a seat, they must redraw district lines so that they are of roughly equal population size.
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What is gerrymandering?
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This is when the redistricting is done to give an advantage to a particular party or candidate
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What are majority minority districts?
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These are districts drawn up to make the minorities within a state make up a majority of the vote
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What was a negative effect of majority-minority districts?
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This drained the amount of democrats in a state, giving advantage to GOP. So even though there were AA districts, republicans were a majority and policies favored by AA were less likely to be enacted.
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What are four ways that people receive campaign donations for congress or senate?
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PAC's, individuals, political parties and the individual running
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What is an open-seat election?
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This is where there is no incumbent office holder
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Why is there a such a large incumbency factor?
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Incumbency receive more money than challengers
Incumbency have the franking privilege, they receive public subsidization of mail from the members of Congress to their constituents. Redistricting The incumbents do casework, helping constituents cut through the red tape of the federal bureaucracy Incumbents also have pork, projects designed to bring to the constituency jobs and public money (Highway) |
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What is a party conference (caucus used by democrats)
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This the political party meeting before the session of congress. At this meeting they will pick minority leader, majority leader and in the Senate select the president pro tempore
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Who is the leader in the House of Rep?
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The speaker of the House
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What is a whip?
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The whip is selected by the majority party in congress to assist the speaker.
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Who is the leader of the senate?
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The vice president
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t
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What is the president pro tempre
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Serves when the vice president isn't present
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What is Tom DeLay's connection with Medicare?
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Tom Delay was going to give money for a democrats vote on a medicare bill to be passed?
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What are standing commitees?
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These are permanent congressional committees-
Ways and Means Rules Budget and Finance |
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What is an hearing and markup?
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Hearing-taking of testimony by a congressional committe or subcommitte
Markup-revising a bill in committe |
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What is an select committee?
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These are temporary committees made to conduct studies or investigations, they have no power to report bills
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What is a conference committe?
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made up of Senate and House, they set up to reconcile diferences in a bill
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How do members of congress get on committees?
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They are put on by majority leaders based on senority and preference
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What is the ranking minority member?
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This is the senior member of the minority party on a committee
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What is reciprocity?
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This when members of congress will defer judgement to specialists
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What is a hold and an unanimous consent?
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Unanimous consent must be made to bring a bill to floor in senate and a hold can be made by a single senator to place a hold on a bill or nomination to delay consideration by the whole body
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How much does the senate need for a vote of cloture?
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3/5 of the senate
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Describe the process of how a bill becomes a law?
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Bill introduced
Refeerd to committee Refeered to subcommittee for hearings and markups Committe actions Rules committee (House) Floor action Conference committe House action on conference committee bill President signature |
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What is an hopper?
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A box where propsed bills are placed
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What is the term of a senator and house?
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S-6
H-2 |
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What is a discharge petition?
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This forces a bill to go to floor if at least 30 days the bill. Must have 218 votes
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What is a pocket veto?
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This is rejection of a bill if pres. takes no action on it for 10 days and congress has adjourned during that period
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What is an legislative veto?
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A Legislative Veto refers to the repeal by Congress of federal agency or presidential actions.
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What are some key features of senate?
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Unrestricted debate
More presitge, more reliance on saff and minority party plays a larger role Members serve on two or more committees less specialized Unlimited amendments possible informal, open, few formal powers and nonhierarchical |
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What are some key features of congress?
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Hierarchical, rule, formal powers
memebrs are only on one major commtte more specalized resrticted floor debtae limited amendments possible less prestige, less reliance on staff and minority party plays a smaller role |
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