CHAPTER 12
POLITICAL PARTIES
President Bush and the implementations of his party’s platform –
Party Platforms: Moderate But Different (Table 12.1) –
2006 midterm election and the political parties –
What is a Political Party?
political party –
(1) governmental party –
(2) organizational party –
(3) party-in-the-electorate –
The Evolution of American Party System
George Washington’s farewell warning –
end of the brief era of partyless politics in the U.S. –
American Party History at a Glance (Figure 12.10 –
Hamilton’s Federalists –
Jefferson Democratic-Republicans –
Jefferson’s attitude toward the party system –
The Early Parties Fade
Era of Good Feelings –
fuel for the growth of political parties –
popular election of Electoral College delegates –
party membership broadens –
Democratic Party and Andrew Jackson –
Whigs –
Henry Clay and Whig Party –
Republican Party and Abraham Lincoln –
Democrats and Republicans: The Golden Age
central traits of the “Golden Age” –
machines –
population’s desire for important services –
“Boss” Tweed –
The Modern Era
government’s gradual assumption of key functions of parties –
Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal –
direct primary –
civil service laws –
issue-oriented politics –
ticket-split –
candidate-centered politics –
population shift from urban to suburban –
Realignment
party realignment –
critical elections –
three tumultuous eras producing significant critical elections (see Figure 12.2) –
1)
2)
3)
dominant outcome of elections since WWII –
recent research suggests partisanship is responsive to –
Secular Realignment
secular realignment –
prospects of a national realignment –
Democratic Party shift toward civil rights and social spending –
The Functions of the American Party System
two-party system –
Mobilizing Support and Gathering Power
how party affiliation is helpful to elected leaders –
coalition –
GOTV –
signals of partisan resurgence –
A Force for Stability and Moderation
mechanisms for organizing and containing political change –
FDR’s New Deal coalition –
white southerners leave the Democratic Party for the GOP in the South –
more partisan in Congress –
Unity, Linkage and Accountability
why parties are the glue holding together fragmented U.S. governmental and
political apparatus –
division in government by design of the Federalists –
basis for mediation and negotiation laterally among the branches of governmentbasis for mediation and negotiation vertically among national, state and local
layers of government –
party-linkage function –
how parties dampen sectionalism –
The Electioneering Function
how political parties assist in the “great function” of elections –
elections in a democracy can have meaning if what? –
Party as a Voting and Issue Cue
party identification as a perceptual screen –
party identification as filter for information –
Policy Formulation and Promotion
national party platform –
impact and influence of platform –
Crashing the Party: Minor Parties in the American Two-Party System
proportional representation –
winner-take-all-system –
effect of the adaptive nature of the two-party system on the growth of third
parties in the United States –
impact of minor parties on American politics –
roots in sectionalism –
Dixiecrats –
Populists –
Green Party –
ideology and third parties –
Bull Moose Party –
George Wallace and the American Independent Party in 1968 –
Ross Perot in 1992 –
Third Parties: Good or Bad for the American Political System? –
minor parties in congressional elections –
when third parties do best –
two major parties no-opt third party popular issues –
Party Organization
Political Party Organization in American: From Base to Pinnacle (see Figure
12.3)National Committees
Democratic National Committee (DNC) –
Republican National Committee (RNC) –
National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) –
National Democratic Congressional Committee (NDCC) –
17th Amendment and creation of Senate campaign committees for both parties –
Leadership
role of chairperson of the national committee –
role of the president –
post-campaign, out-of-power party committee and chairperson –
National Conventions
national convention –
television coverage of national conventions –
ultimate governing body for the party –
Howard Dean –
State Localities
where are the parties structurally based? –
what level of government is responsible for virtually all regulation of political
parties –
party leadership comes from what level of government? –
precinct –
precinct committee members –
state central (or executive) committee –
national party and state party organizations division of powers –
New Hampshire resists DNC in 2006 –
effect of Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act –
527 groups –
Informal Groups
groups affiliated with the parties –
supportive interest groups and associations –
think tanks –
The Transformation of Party Organization
Republican versus Democratic fund-raising efforts –
soft money –
hard money –
Republican versus Democratic fund-raising in 2006 midterm elections –
Political Party Finances (Figure 12.4) –
network of donors –
technology and the parties –
money spent on surveys and data accumulation –
technological and fund-raising modernization by the Democratic Party –
The Party in Government
The Congressional Party
political parties most visible in Congress; why? –
party caucus at beginning of each congressional session –
party leadership selection in Congress –
party discipline –
Senate majority leader –
pork barrel projects –
limits to coordinated, cohesive party action in Congress –
the most powerful predictor of congressional roll-call voting –
Congressional Party Unity Scores, 1959-2005 (Figure 12.5) –
reasons for recent growth of congressional party unity –
The Presidential Party
significance of political party of the president –
nonpartisan presidents –
presidential neglect and personal use of the their party –
pro-party presidents –
The Parties and the Judiciary
party affiliation influence on judicial decisions –
areas where party affiliation is a moderately good predictor of judicial decisions –
partisanship and elected judges as opposed to appointed judges –
The Parties and State Government
parties and governors –
governor’s influence over state party –
significance of line-item veto for governor –
parties and state legislatures –
the state with a nonpartisan legislature –
comparison of effects and powers of party affiliation in legislatures versus
Congress –
The Party-in-the-Electorate
party-in-the-electorate –
aspects and influences of party identification –
Party Identification, 1952-2004 –
loyalty generated by party label –
A Purple Electorate? –
legal institutionalization of the major parties and party identification –
single greatest influence in establishing a person’s first party identification –
aspects of adult life that influence party identity –
Group Affiliation
Party Identification by Group Affiliation (Table 12.2) –
geographic region –
gender –
race and ethnicity –
Gender Gap: Men and Women’s Vote Choices in the 2004 Presidential Election
(Figure 12.6) –
race and ethnicity –
age –
Party Affiliation Among College Students (page 454) –
social and economic factors –
religion –
marital status –
ideology –
Is the Party Over or Has It Just Begun?
dealignment –
rise of independents –
self-identified Democratic and Republican partisans –
the two stages pollsters go through when asking for party identification
information –
how independent “learners” vote much like real partisans –
importance of partisan affiliation in the community in the past –
reasons for anti-party attitudes today –
how voter-admitted partisanship has dropped (despite the underlying
partisanship of the American people) –
has the decline of the parties been exaggerated? –
strengths of parties in the broad sweep of American parties:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)