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Campaigning
Taking active roles as citizens at
the local, state, and national levels
Campaigning- Purpose
Without going getting their
message heard, voters would not
know who these people were or
what they stood for
Campaign Process
• Canvassing: Party volunteers go door to
door
• Ask for votes
• Take public opinion polls
• Endorsements: get a popular person to
support their candidate publicly
• Advertising and Image Molding: people
work to project a certain attitude or image
Campaign (Propaganda)
Techniques
• Tactics used by interest groups to get their
candidates elected
– Glittering generalities
– “Just Plain Folks”
– Endorsements
– Bandwagon
– Symbols
– Stacked Cards
Glittering Generality
“George Bush:
Making the
World Safe
for
Democracy”
Just Plain Folks
• George Bush rides
his pickup truck–
just like you and
me.
• Well, YOU at least.
Endorsements
• George Bush
endorses Arnold
Schwarzenegger
during the
California recall
election
Bandwagon
Symbols
• Use of the flag or
other patriotic
symbols to illicit
positive
responses from
voters
Stacked Cards (Testimonials)
• Giving one side of the
issue
• Served as chair of the
Congressional
Missing and Exploited
Children's Caucus
Campaign Financing
• Public Funding:
– The Presidential Election Campaign
Fund gives money to candidates who
have raised $100,000 on their own
– The two major parties split the fund in
half if they promise not to accept any
other contributions.
Campaigning Financing
–Private Funding
• Hard Money: individual donations
made directly to a candidate
• Soft money: donations made indirectly
to a candidate’s campaign through
another organization like his political
party
Political Action Committees
• PAC’s are organizations formed by
businesses and interest groups to fund a
candidate’s campaign
– they are a major source of soft money
– Big businesses filter money through these
organizations to a political party
Campaigning Funding
• Campaign Finances pay for
–Ads (television and newspaper)
–Pamphlets
–Touring states and districts
–Campaign employees
Controversy over Campaign
Finance
• Arguments:
– Money mainly helps incumbents (people
already in office)
– Middle and Low class people will never be
able to raise enough funds to compete with
wealthy candidates
– Federal Election Commission tries to monitor
where funding come from
Funding