Sunday, November 11, 2012

What questions do you still have about the campaign process? What answers can you give to your #apgopo classmates? What's the hardest thing you "got" about the campaign process?

41 comments:

Unknown said...

do third parties have conventions and who did the demacratic and republican parties become the two main parties and what would a third party have to do to take over one of the two major party spots.

Brittany R said...

Will a candadiate ever take a full "moderate" postion in an election (never claim a political party) and win? Learning Objective 3, is the hardest for me.I will need to study all the ways canadites raise money.

Haley S said...

I wonder if an independent could ever win a presidential election because I think a significant portion of the electorate feels that if he or she votes for an independent it is a "waste of a vote" because they do not believe an independent could win. Learning Objective 3 was the most difficult objective for me to learn due to the multiple sources of campaign funding it discussed.

Unknown said...

What does the word "electioneering" mean? Also, why is it important for a incumbent with no challengers from their own party to portray him or herself as likable to party activists through the nomination phase of the campaign? I think I would have to agree with the other people who said that objective 3 is the hardest thing to get because you have to remember the limits on the different sources and the role that they play in the campaign funding.

Nick Berry said...

One of my questions is regarding foregin campaign donations. Can candidates accept donations from international companies? Also, what's the difference between a PAC and an interest/lobbying group? @MattGilson - yes, the Green Party had a convention this year in Baltimore. Something hard I "get" more is the difference between soft money and hard money. Soft money is money supporting a campaign when the soft money group doesn't specify who they support in their advertisements/agendas (even though it is usually implied).

Anonymous said...

If a person runs as an independant, which convention/caucus to they go to? Or do they not go to one at all. And, if a person in congress is an independant, what party do they answer to or do they have no party?

Unknown said...

Learning objective 3 is the most difficult to fully learn due to the many limits of campaign donations. @Brittany R yes a candidate can win if he/she is independent. In the election of 1912, Theodore Roosevelt as part of the Bull Moose Party, won 88 electoral votes and came in second by only 2 million in popular vote. This may have been because he was previously president but it could happen again in the future.

Mr. Bretzmann said...

Check out the comparison of 527s, PACS, and SuperPacs that I made. If it's helpful, use it! JB
http://tinyurl.com/bbygupf

Mr. Bretzmann said...

@Matt G Usually the major parties take over the issues of the third party candidates. This is a way that third parties influence the public policy decisions, AND it's a way that the two major parties maintain their stronhold on the electoral process (e.g. Ross Perot talked a lot about deficit reduction. Bill Clinton got elected and made it one of his issues).

Mr. Bretzmann said...

@Haley S. It is the feeling overall that you waste your vote if you don't vote for either of the two major party candidates. This is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy and may help to keep third party candidates from winning. Something else to consider about an independent winning is that we use the Dem. and Repub. labels to help us understand "who the candidates are." The labels help us identify what they probably stand for (whether it's right or wrong).

Unknown said...

I think learning objective 3 is the hardest to understand, when regarding learning objective 3 i don't what kinds of things soft money is used for.

Mr. Bretzmann said...

Does anybody have a chart or a trick to remember all the money stuff? Sounds like we need some help with getting everything in order for LO 3.

Kyle Johnson-Evers said...

I had some questions about independents in the election process but many people already said something about that. I also had some questions on learning objective number 3. Independents can win an election as Peyton said it almost happened with the Bull moose party but it is highly unlikely and would need a time of distrust of both parties with a good leader. The hardest thing I got about the campaign process is the funding of the presidential campaign.

Mr. Bretzmann said...

@Nick B. Think of an interest group as a group that advocates for what they like or don't like (also called a faction)(e.g.NRA, NARAL). Of the many things that interest groups do, they try to elect people who have similar agendas. They need PACs to try to help elect people (it's a legal requirement through the FEC). So you could think of the PAC as the electoral arm of an interest group. Interest groups also lobby, organize, educate, mobilize, etc.)

Mr. Bretzmann said...

@garrett l. Soft money in the past was huge sums of money given to parties who could then spend it any way they wanted. "Soft money" because it's not a hard contribution to an individual candidate. Used for party building, issue advocacy, and organzing members. Over time this all came to mean that they could use it to elect candidates without saying words like "elect" "vote for" etc. It has since been banned. 527s fulfill this function now (be a lawyer).

Mr. Bretzmann said...

Does anybody have a chart or a trick to remember all the money stuff? Sounds like we need some help with getting everything in order for LO 3.

Unknown said...

How do third parties elect their candidate? I agree with everyone that learning objective three is the hardest to grasp because you have to remember what the limits are for each source.

Unknown said...

Like most of my classmates I'm still wondering about LO 3. There are so many sources for the candidates to raise money it is hard to remember them all.

Jack P. said...

My question isn't necessarily about our campaign process but are we the only country in which the process is so long or is it normal in other countries with a similar governments for the process to be this length?

Unknown said...

I would also agree that objective 3 is the hardest to remember just because of the similarities and number of different ways they can receive the money. My major thing that I learned about the presidential campaign is how many people work together to try and get their candidate elected.The one other major thing I learned was how much technology influenced the way candidates reach out to possible voters compared to 20 years ago. The only question I can think of is how do other countries run their elections compared to ours?

Kyle Yaklovich said...

What do you think would happen if a RINO (Republican in name only) recieved the presidential candidate nomination from the party later to be discovered as a RINO? Would the republicans withdraw him/her as a candidate? Like everyone else, I had most of my trouble with LO3.

Unknown said...

Like everybody else, the hardest LO is #3. I was also wondering about third party primaries and funding. We never hear anything about them and they are not in the debates. I know in other countries in Europe have many more parties that play a much more important role.

Anne L. said...

Here is the link to the FEC's website listing the Contribution Limits of 2012: http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/contriblimits.shtml

I would have to agree with the majority. Learning Objective #3 would have to be the most difficult objective for me because of all the specific limits and sources

Unknown said...

Is it possible that in the future another political party will grow in power and replace either the republican party or the democratic party? Learning objective 3 was the most difficult for me.

Mike O said...

What is the difference between the 527 political committees and the 501(c) groups? Learning objective three seems to be the most difficult for me to understand.

Unknown said...

I have a questionhs on the PACs and what that exactly does? And do members that work on keeping tract of money have a seasonal job? All the information of how much money can be sent is hard to remember.

Unknown said...

Regarding the election day process, I'm still confused as to how the popular vote influences the election because isn't it really the electoral college votes that matter? I wonder whether an independent could ever win the presidential election. Learning objective 3 was the hardest to grasp and I'll have to study all the ways candidates could raise money

Tony M. said...

Does the independent part even have a convention? And if there is a candidate without anyone running against them, where does all the money that would go into the campaign go?

Unknown said...

is movement from middle to the right or left rare or does it happen in both types of elections, Is hard and soft money in daily use in the campaign, and do moderates have small campaigns?

KurtO said...

I still don't understand the difference between a 527 group, and a 501(c) group. I looked them both up in the book and the deffinitions are the same. they are both tax exempt, and not subject to FEC disclosure rules.

Zach Matusinec said...

I was questioning the differences between PAC/501c/etc... but then I found this simple list: http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/types.php
It clearly states the differences between these groups. It also puts these groups into the bigger picture by talking about soft money, interest groups, etc.

Zach Matusinec said...

Also, since it is quite difficult to remember all the campaign limits for donations, here is a link to the FEC website. Scroll down and you will see a chart that lays out exactly how much these limits are!
http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/fecfeca.shtml

Mr. Bretzmann said...

Thanks for sharing that Zach Matu.

Unknown said...

I wonder about the popular vote and the electoral college votes. I dont understand how the popular vote changes things in the election since I thought the electoral college votes' are the most important.

Unknown said...

I wonder about the popular vote and the electoral college votes. I dont understand how the popular vote changes things in the election since I thought the electoral college votes' are the most important.

Unknown said...

Is there a limit to how much money a candidate can raise if they don't use matching funds? If not, will the government make one due to the fact that candidates are choosing not to use matching funds anymore? I think the hardest thing for me to remember was all the different positions that campaign staff take on and all of the different ways that candidates can make money.

Alec J said...

For a third party candidate if they reach a certain percent of the vote they will recieve governent money for their next election. In class someone said a third party candidate wanted to do really good in Nevada so he could earn the government funding, so my question is does the candidate have to recieve a certain percent of the national vote or just in a certain state.

Unknown said...

I also don't understand how the independents elect their candidate. Do independents have the right to participate in Presidential Debates, because they are running for president? If they do, why aren't they ever in debates? And why don't they get any attention from the media?

Unknown said...

I dont understand the popular vote, i feel that we dont have as much power as we should have.

Unknown said...

my only question left about the campaign process is how do they decide population wise how many electoral votes a state has

Unknown said...

I know there are a lot of people out there who follow some liberal policies and others follow conservative policies. Would a candidate who also believes in moderate policies ever win in an election?