Notes from Friday March 28th , 2008

Money and elections
"3 Distinct Phases"

Phase 1 (1790's -1880's)
- Money suppliments party activites
- The partisan parties

Phase 2 (1880's-1950's)
( believed to be the most corrupt, where the person with the most money, has the ability to buy the presidency)
- Limited number of campaign contributiors attempts are made to out-rais and out-spend the opponent.
- Mark Hanna - Help buy the presidency for some president I forgot the name of.
- Bebe Rebozo- Helped Nixon with his campaigns, giving him loads of money to win the presidency.
( This was the ERA before the FECA)


Phase 3 (1960's- present)
-Media centered elections
- Professional candidate centered campaigns
-Pollsters, media gurus, fund-raising experts
- Costs of campaigns sky rocketed.
( it's understandable that the cost of campaigns increased, because due to the advancement of technology, now the candidates have to pay more to get more coverage through the media. I'm sure you'll be able to remember this phase... 1960's- Present... all about the advancement of the MEDIA!)


Factors Driving increased Campaign spending
"Top Ten"
( he said that it's not the real top ten, it's just his TOP TEN)

Top Ten factors driving up the cost of American elections:
1. Tv
2. Private Consulting
3. New Technologies
4. Primary Elections
5. Set terms
6. Uncertainty ( I don't get this, I guess because when a candidate isn't certain about winning a campaign, due to polls, they just spend more money trying to get his face or her face out there!)
7. Inflation
8. Population growth
9. More money available
10. Strategic spending to discourage challengers.




Here are some tips for the test, that's the He gave us in class!
Also I'll put some HW questions on here!

- Alot of specifics of Electoral College
- Different Types of elections in the Electoral College
- Voting behavior - Specific Primaries
- Psychological theory, socio, economical theory.
- Beyond partisanship
- Different phases
- Timing of the Presidential Election cycle.
- Irony of the party. ( People don't mind voting for the Independent parties, but they won't due to Duvergers law)
- Candidates selection . The first way candidates were picked? Through caucuses, after that they moved to conventions, then they moved onto the primaries, which first started as closed primaries, and then some states adopted the open primaries.

Later on, i'll put up the hw so you can review it on here too... allright Hope all of my hard work, has helped you all in the long run!