Deck 7: Campaigns Organized Money Versus Organized People

Question 1

What was the ruling of the Supreme Court in Buckley v.Valeo ?

Answer 1

Students' answers may vary.
In this 1976 U.S.Supreme Court ruling, the Court struck down federal limits on overall campaign expenditures by individuals.The decision also allowed interested citizens to spend unlimited amounts of money to support candidates independently of a campaign organization.

Question 2

How does the candidate have to appeal to undecided and swing voters?

Answer 2

Students' answers may vary.
To influence swing voters, candidates must achieve high name recognition and craft consistent and repeatable favorable images that impress those voters.

Question 3

Explain the essential steps of the Road to the White House.Use Obama's race as an example to flesh out the picture.

Answer 3

Students' answers may vary.

Question 4

What is a political action committee?

Question 5

What is the difference between political marketing and grassroots campaigning?

Question 6

Why did the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA)establish the Federal Election Commission (FEC)?

Question 7

What is the purpose of a focus and dial group?

Question 8

Money plays a major role in elections.Explain why money is so important-what does it purchase? Explain the implications for democracy.

Question 9

What is the relationship between independent issue advocacy and 527s and 501(c)s?

Question 10

What is the difference between hard money and soft money?

Question 11

Most modern political campaigns are candidate-centered because

A)they rely on party leaders for decision-making support.
B)they focus more on images and personalities than on issues or parties.
C)candidates run them with little help from others.
D)candidates must pay for them out of their personal wealth.

Question 12

Explain the three rules about campaigning.How are they symbolic of elite democracy?

Question 13

One major component of elections is campaign finance.Explain the two phases of campaign reform.Given the recent reforms, explain how money will find a way.

Question 14

What is the difference between a benchmark survey and a tracking survey?

Question 15

What is the permanent campaign?

Question 16

In the process of being elected president, what role does the invisible primary play?

Question 17

What are candidate-centered campaigns?

Question 18

Why is name recognition so important?

Question 19

What did the Supreme Court rule about independent expenditures?

Question 20

What is the importance of gatekeepers?

Question 21

The contributing of money to political campaigns occurs at the highest rate among

A)those seeking patronage jobs.
B)members of the working class.
C)the affluent.
D)immigrants to the United States.

Question 22

The rise of high-tech politics has

A)increased campaign professionalization and specialization.
B)allowed government to set strict limits on campaign funding.
C)created a federal bureaucracy that oversees campaign finances and political consulting licenses.
D)better informed the public and increased awareness of issues.

Question 23

"Soft money" allows

A)contributors to donate unlimited funds to individual candidates.
B)candidates to assist their challengers to encourage popular democratic principles.
C)parties to receive unlimited funds for independent expenditures.
D)contributors to help underfunded challengers in state but not federal elections.

Question 24

After the 1994 elections

A)Democrats continued to get more PAC money than Republicans.
B)Republicans sought to ban PACs.
C)Republicans began to get contributions from labor PACs.
D)Republicans got a larger share of donations from business PACs.

Question 25

The permanent campaign has

A)extended the time spent appealing to the voters to more than a year.
B)forced elected officials to spend much of their time in office working on how to stay there.
C)required elected officials to refrain from interfering in each other's legislative agendas.
D)made voters more interested in elections.

Question 26

Compared to the political consultants of today, the political bosses who used to run campaigns were more

A)interested in the money.
B)attuned to media.
C)elegant in style.
D)loyal to political parties.

Question 27

The campaign game is showing signs of decay because

A)both citizens and candidates have become disenchanted with its methods.
B)elites are unhappy about its mounting costs.
C)corporate interests are increasingly reluctant to take political risks in campaigns.
D)campaign reform laws encourage citizen organization and dialogue rather than elite influence.

Question 28

Which of the following is a characteristic of a grassroots campaign?

A)Volunteer efforts are replaced by political consultants and advertising.
B)Advertising and money have become increasingly important in determining political strategy.
C)Political consultants' power is muted by the people's voices and efforts.
D)Candidates are controlled by the larger PAC corporations.

Question 29

For the authors, the campaign game limits

A)the ability of candidates to favor corporate interests.
B)the manipulation of citizens through negative campaigning.
C)elite democracy by its reliance on polling the public.
D)citizen participation by stifling real debate and grassroots activism.

Question 30

The strategy employed by press relations specialists in recent presidential election campaigns was

A)to create new federal legislation to monitor information access.
B)aimed to shield the president from unscripted moments.
C)focused on hardball interaction with the pack reporters.
D)to discourage the use of modern technological advances to provide information and responses.

Question 31

Political action committees (PACs)exist to

A)funnel money from members of corporations, trade associations, and labor unions into House and Senate campaigns.
B)enable the government to check campaign spending.
C)promote interests and issues that the business community and labor interests often overlook.
D)check the growth of the incumbency effect.

Question 32

Which of the following is NOT one of the laws of modern campaign finance?

A)Incumbents usually raise less money than challengers.
B)Incumbents are usually reelected.
C)Challengers can win when they raise as much as incumbents.
D)Open-seat contests are the most unpredictable.

Question 33

Meaningful campaign reform includes

A)allowing PACs to contribute as much money as they wish.
B)closing the loopholes that allow soft-money contributions to exist.
C)decreasing the public funds for both incumbents and challengers.
D)enacting legislation to limit the power of the Federal Elections Commission.

Question 34

According to the authors, the Federal Courts and the Supreme Court

A)have placed strong restrictions on the use of soft money.
B)have completely ignored the issue of soft money in elections.
C)have been accommodating to political parties looking to find new ways to acquire soft money.
D)have strongly upheld the intentions of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974.

Question 35

Campaign finance reforms passed in response to the Watergate scandal

A)were highly successful in removing the influence of money in elections.
B)were biased in favor of the Democrats.
C)have been bypassed or subverted in the ensuing years.
D)still serve as the model for new reform efforts.

Question 36

Even before the election-year primaries in which candidates for their party's presidential nomination compete, there is a(n)_____  primary for money and media attention.

A)open
B)closed
C)invisible
D)personality

Question 37

The high costs of political campaigns encourage which of the following?

A)Phone calls to as many potential voters as possible
B)The growth of direct mail solicitation for campaign contributions
C)The limited use of television ads
D)Interactive debates between a candidate's staff and the voters