This document provides background information on campaigns and elections in the United States. It discusses how campaigns have become a major part of the democratic process, overshadowing governance. It also outlines the process of running for office, including the need to constantly fundraise. Political parties, such as the Republicans and Democrats, help provide candidates structure and funding but also require candidates to support the party platform. Third parties exist but rarely succeed due to the two-party system.

1. Campaigns & Elections
3.1 Daily Sheet #1

2. Learning Objective
• Students will evaluate issues regarding campaigns for national,
state, and local elective offices.

3. Do Now
• Platform: a document stating the aims and principles of a political
party
• Two-party system: a system where two major political parties
dominate politics within a government (For USA, Democrats &
Republicans)
• Third Party: any party contending for votes that failed to outpoll
either of its two strongest rivals

4. Background
• Campaigns & elections are democracy’s vetting (background
check) process
• Initially, the process of conducting campaigns and holding
elections was devised as a means to an end; the peaceful transfer
of power.
• However, two centuries of practice have elevated the process to
an end in itself.
• It seems campaigns/elections have become the most important
part of the Democratic Cycle, overshadowing the governance of
the people.

5. The Democratic Cycle
Governance of the People Campaigns
Elections

6. Background
• Today, running for office takes as much, if not more, time, energy
and resources as holding it.
• Although the skills necessary to woo voters are at times directly
opposed to those necessary to govern them, the expensive and
tiresome process exists for a reason: to ensure that those who
wish to govern are, if not the most qualified our country has to
offer, at least the ones who want it the most (those individuals
that want it so badly that they will endure any humiliation just for
a chance at power).
• Campaigns and elections are the process in which democracy
separates the willing from the able.

7. Candidates

8. Running for Office
• Do you like babies? Do you like veterans? Can you feign interest in
old people – and smile while touching them? Do you enjoy saying
the same thing over and over again? How about being portrayed as
a villain on national television and having your family hounded 24
hours a day? Are you willing to put up with these things for the
remainder of your professional life?
• If you answered ―yes‖ to every one of these questions, then you
are ready to run for office?

9. Periodic Table of Elections
Office Election Frequency
President, Governors Every 4 years
Senate Every 6 years
House of Representatives Every 2 years
Prom King/Queen Every year

10. Fundraising
• The most significant change to campaigns over the years has been
the cost. And while candidates have impressive personal
fortunes, they still need money, and lots of it.
• Political fundraisers take many forms, but the most common is the
dinner. Supporters gather in a large auditorium or banquet hall to
eat (generally chicken). If they’re lucky, they’ll be graced with
the presence of the candidate who will spend about 5 minutes of
their time shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries.
• If you’re wondering how much this experience will cost
you, oh, about $2,000. Yet where does this money go?

11. Analyzing a $2,000 dinner plate
$8 – Actual Plate
$6 – Food on plate
$9 – Mass mailing for the next $2,000 a-
plate fundraiser
$8 – A handsomely framed photo of donors w/
the candidate
$1,969 – Negative ad to run in a critical
swing state

12. Fundraising
• Smart candidates know that without a powerful fundraising
organization, they will lose.
• Raising money takes time, so plan on at least a year of non-
stop solicitation.
• Still doubt the importance of money? Well, billionaire Ross
Perot received 19% of the presidential vote in 1992.

13. Fundraising
• Fortunately, candidates aren’t alone.
• Whether seeking city, state, or federal
office, they are undoubtedly running
under the auspices of one of America’s
two political parties – the Republicans or
the Democrats.

14. The Republicans
• The Republican Party is the
party of nostalgia (viewed as
conservative).

15. The Republicans
• The Elephant— Political cartoonist
Thomas Nast was responsible for the
Republican Party elephant. In a
cartoon that appeared in Harper's
Weekly in 1874, Nast drew a donkey
clothed in lion's skin, scaring away all
the animals at the zoo. One of those
animals, the elephant, was labeled
"The Republican Vote." That's all it
took for the elephant to become
associated with the Republican Party.

16. The Democrats
• The Democrats are
utopians (viewed as
liberal).

17. The Democrats
• The Donkey— Presidential candidate Andrew Jackson
was the first Democrat ever to be associated with the
donkey. His opponents during the election of 1828
tried to label him a "jackass" for his populist beliefs
and slogan, "Let the people rule." Jackson was
entertained by the notion and ended up using it to his
advantage on his campaign posters.
• But cartoonist Thomas Nast is credited with making
the donkey the recognized symbol of the Democratic
Party. It first appeared in a cartoon in Harper's Weekly
in 1870, and was supposed to represent an anti-Civil
War faction. But the public was immediately taken by
it and by 1880 it had already become the unofficial
symbol of the party.

18. Political Parties
• Parties provide candidates with structure and financial support.
• In exchange, the candidate agrees never to take sides against the party.
• Each party has a platform, a menu of central beliefs making up its
worldview.
• The candidate can choose from one of two platforms, but remember, no
substitutions!
• For example, do you support universal healthcare? Then you must also want a
ban on assault weapons.
• Pro-limited government? Congrats! You might also be anti-abortion.
• Luckily, all human opinion falls neatly into one of the two clearly
defined camps; thus we get our two-party system.

19. Third Parties
• In 2000, the Green Party’s Ralph Nader
received thousands of votes that may have
otherwise have gone to Democrat Al Gore.
• But the fact remains, Nader was among the
few that tied to change the system.

20. Exit Ticket
• Should there be limits to the amount of money
campaigns/candidates may receive to run for office? Why?