Campaign Finance
What is the executive agency that monitors campaign financing?
Federal Election Commission (FEC)
What is the most common nominating method in U.S. elections?
Primary Elections
How many electors in the Electoral College does the state of Georgia have?
16
Differentiate between hard and soft money.
Hard money is money given directly to a candidate and is regulated by the FEC
Soft money is money spent ON a candidate or campaign and is NOT regulated by the FEC
What are the two nominating methods used for U.S. elections?
Primary Elections and Caucuses
How many TOTAL electors are there in the Electoral College AND how many electors are needed to WIN the presidency?
538 total; 270 to win
What is the relationship between campaign contributions and special interest groups?
Special interest groups will form Political Action Committees (PACs) in order to contribute to campaigns
What is a primary election?
Primary elections are traditional, secret-ballot elections where voters select the candidate they would like to be the nominee for a political party
In the Electoral College, how is each state’s number of electors determined?
Number of Senators + members of the House of Representatives
What are Political Action Committees?
PACs are organizations that pool campaign contributions from members and then donates those pooled funds to campaign for or against a candidate.
They may represent special interest groups or other groups who want to influence legislation
What is a caucus?
Caucuses are town hall meetings where political party members determine their party’s nominee through discussion and debate
What happens if no candidate wins a majority in the Electoral College?
House of Representatives votes (1 vote per state) to determine the President
How do interest groups, PACs (& Super PACs) impact elections?
They give money and support to political candidates to win their elections → they hope that if those candidates win, they will “return the favor” with legislation benefiting that group
List 3 major things that happen at party national conventions.
The party officially chooses their nominee
The nominee announces their running mate (Vice President)
The party writes their party platform and unites behind their candidate
Explain the “winner-take-all” system method to the Electoral College.
Whichever candidate wins a majority of the popular vote in the state gets ALL the electoral college votes in that state, which allows the winner of the popular vote to sometimes not win the Presidency.