Political Parties

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Political Party

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An organization that seeks political power by electing people to office so that its positions and philosophy become public policy.

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Direct Primary

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Election in which voters choose party nominees

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National Convention

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A national meeting of delegates elected in primaries, caucuses, or state conventions who assemble once every four years to nominate candidates for president and vice president, ratify the party platform, elect officers, and adopt rules.

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National Committee

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Delegates who run party affairs between national conventions.

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Congressional Campaign Committee

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A party committee in Congress that provides funds to members and would-be members

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National Chairmen

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Day-to-day party manager elected by the national committee

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Super-Delegates

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Party leaders and elected officials who become delegates to the national convention without having to run in primaries or caucuses

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Winner-Take-all-System

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Election system in which the candidate with the most votes wins.

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Political Machine

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A party organization that recruits members by dispensing patronage

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Tammany Hall

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the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in controlling New York City politics and helping immigrants (most notably the Irish) rise up in American politics from the 1790s to the 1960s

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Patronage

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The dispensing of government jobs to persons who belong to the winning political party.

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Plurality System

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An electoral system in which the winner is the person who gets the most votes, even if he or she does not recieve a majority;used in almost all American elections

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Caucus

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A meeting of local party members to choose party officials or candidates for public office and to decide the platform.

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Progressives

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A belief that personal freedom and solving social problems are more important then religion

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linkage institutions

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The political channels though which people's concerns become political issues on the policy agenda.

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"Loyal Opposition"

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In parliamentary systems of government, the term loyal opposition is applied to the opposition parties in the legislature to indicate that the non-governing parties may oppose the actions of the sitting cabinet, while maintaining loyalty to the source of the government's power.

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Realignment

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An election during periods of expanded suffrage and change in the economy and society that proves to be a turning point, redefining the agenda of politics and the alignment of voters within parties.

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Dealignment

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Weakening of partisan preferences that points to a rejection of both major parties and a rise in the number of independents.

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First party system

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weak because it was the first, no ancestral party loyalty to defend and the early parties were essentially small groups of local notables

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Second party system

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political participation became a mass phenomenon with an enormous increase in the number of men eligible to vote.

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New Deal Coalition

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the alignment of interest groups and voting blocs that supported the New Deal and voted for Democratic presidential candidates from 1932 until approximately 1968

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spoils system

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rewarding political supporters with goverment jobs

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Civil Service

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government workers; usually hired on the basis of competitive examinations

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McGovern-Fraser Commission

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Commission on Party Structure and Delegate Selection, created to investigate and make recommendations for the reform of primary elections within the U.S.

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"personal following"

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people that follow a candidate because of the personal relationship they have with them

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proportional representation

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is a type of voting system aimed at securing a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections, and the percentage of seats they receive

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coalition

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an alliance among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause.

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party platform

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is a list of the actions which a political party supports in order to appeal to the general public for the purpose of having said party's candidates voted into office.

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Dixiecrats

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was a shortlived segregationist, socially conservative political party in the United States. It originated as a breakaway faction of the Democratic Party in 1948, determined to protect what they portrayed as the Southern way of life beset by an oppressive federal government[1], and supporters assumed control of the state Democratic parties in part or in full in several Southern states. The States' Rights Democratic Party opposed racial integration and wanted to retain Jim Crow laws and white supremacy.

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Strom Thurmond

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was an American politician who served as the 103rd Governor of South Carolina and as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party (Dixiecrat) candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes. Thurmond later represented South Carolina in the United States Senate from 1954 to April 1956 and November 1956 to January 2003, at first as a Democrat and after 1964 as a Republican, switching parties as the conservative base shifted.

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George Wallace

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he ran for US president four times, running officially as a Democrat three times and in the American Independent Party once. A 1972 assassination attempt left him paralyzed and a wheelchair user for the remainder of his life. He is best known for his Southern populist[3] pro-segregation attitudes during the American desegregation period, convictions he renounced later in life.[4]

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American Independent Party

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racial party that was headed by Governor George Wallace

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Ross Perot

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is an American businessman from Texas best known for running for President of the United States in 1992 and 1996

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Critical Elections

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a dramatic change in the political system