Show:
Vocabulary
Electoral College
Influencing Gov't
Political Parties
Well, what had happened was...
100
This is the process by which political parties select candidates for office.
What is nomination?
100
Virginia has 13 electoral votes. Therefore, the state is divided into this many districts, with one representative in the House of Representatives for each district.
What is 11?
100
Citizens provide their consent to the government by voting. However, not every citizen votes. According to voter demographic trends, these citizens are more likely to give their consent to the governed. (*hint* remember the voting vowels)
Who are... citizens that are older (*age), more educated (*education), and wealthy (*income)?
100
This is an association of voters, or group of people, who have similar ideas about how the government should be run.
What is a political party?
100
In the 2012 presidential election, candidates spent $763.3 million dollars on media expenditures. Because of the high costs of campaigning, candidates need to raise a lot of money if they want to win the election.

In a memo from the Republican Party of Ohio, the chairman asked for $15,500 dollars from a real estate company.

This type of donation would be deposited in the Republican Party's account to be used for "Vote Republican" campaign strategies.
What is soft money?
200
These are the people in the electoral college who cast their vote for the President.
Who are electors?
200
A president needs this many electoral votes to win the election.
What is 270.
200
These are ways that individuals can influence government.
What are voting, campaigning, or running for office? (e.g. participating in politics)
200
You are doing research about what each gubernatorial candidate plans to do about education, transportation in VA, and state taxes.
You will look here* to see the differences in what the candidates for each political party believes. (*yes, this will probably be published online or on their campaign website, but what is it that you are reading?)
What is the party platform?
200
The 2013 Governor's race included a lot of negative attention on each of two-major party candidates. This cartoon highlights this propaganda technique that was used frequently in most political advertising.
What is name-calling?
300
This person has already been elected to public office, but would like to be re-elected in the upcoming general election.
Who is the incumbent candidate?
300
There are this many total electors in the electoral college.
What are 538?
300
These groups identify specific issues and lobby government officials to make changes that would benefit their cause (e.g. MADD). They identify an issue and unite to promote their beliefs and influence public policy.
What are interest groups?
300
Recruiting and nominating candidates, educating the electorate about campaign issues, helping candidates win elections, and monitoring the actions officeholders are examples of this.
What are functions or similarities between political parties?
300
In 1912, Republicans were dissatisfied with their political party's nominee - William Taft. As a result, many people rallied behind Teddy Roosevelt, who was both a well-known and charismatic character.

This third party, likely spoiled the election for the Republican party.
What is the Bull Moose or Progressive Party?
400
All commercials and advertising are bias. They present one sided information. Therefore, these messages are intentionally misleading. They use these techniques to persuade their audience.
What are propaganda techniques?
400
The number of electors for each state is based on this.
What is the state's congressional representation?
400
These are ways that interest groups can influence public policy.
What is lobbying for support, endorsing candidates, or raising and donating money?
400
In order to win an election, although at opposite ends of the political spectrum, liberals and conservatives must appeal to this.
Most U.S. citizens have moderate beliefs.
What is the political center?
400
In the 2000 presidential election, Gore received a majority of the popular votes in the United States. This means that more citizens cast their vote for Al Gore. However, according to the electoral votes cast, the election results declared GW Bush for the win.

This scenario is a direct result of this practice in the electoral college system.
What is the winner-take-all system?
500
These organizations are established by groups of people with similar political goals. They are organizations designed to support candidates by contributing money.
What is a political action committee?
500
The slate of electors in each state is chosen by this kind of vote.
What is the popular vote?
500
The media plays an important role in influencing government by identifying issues that they believe deserve public attention. This is an example of the media's role as this.
What is Gatekeeper? This means that the media also determines what is on the public agenda.
500
Political parties want to recruit a popular politician to be nominated as their party's candidate. This is because political parties want their candidate to be selected for office. If their candidate wins the election, then the political party will be able to better influence this.
What is public policy?
500
In 1824, the U.S. presidential election was decided by the House of Representatives. There were four candidates: Jackson (38%), Adams (32%), Crawford (16%), and Clay (14%) who received split percentages of the electoral vote.

This election was decided in the House because no candidate received this.
What is a majority?