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Chapter 10: Elections (Nominating Presidential Candidates (Caucus Method…
Chapter 10: Elections
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Benefits
Pork-Barrel Benefits
Government-sponsored projects that bring economic benefits to a Congress member’s state or district. This is a pejorative term first used in the mid-nineteenth century to describe projects viewed as a waste of tax dollars that serve no purpose other than to aid the reelection of a single incumbent.
Perquisites
The benefits and support activities that members of Congress receive in order to help them perform their job.
Advertising
The activities of members of Congress (such as sending out newsletters or visiting the district) designed to familiarize the constituency with the member.
Credit Claiming
The efforts by members of Congress to get their constituents to believe they are responsible for positive government actions.
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Electing the President
Electoral College
The institution (whose members are selected by whatever means the state legislature chooses) that is responsible for selecting the president of the United States.
Direct Popular Election
A proposal to abolish the electoral college and elect the president directly by national popular vote.
Proportional Plan
A plan to revise the electoral college such that the number of electoral college votes given to candidates would be based on the proportion of the popular vote they obtained.
District Plan
A plan to revise the electoral college that would distribute a state’s electoral college votes by giving one vote to the candidate who wins a plurality in each House district and two votes to the winner statewide.
Swing States
States in which the outcome of a presidential race is unclear, and both candidates have a realistic chance of winning.
Legal Cases
Baker vs. Carr
The 1962 case in which the Supreme Court overturned the political question doctrine, holding that legislative apportionment was a justiciable issue that the courts had jurisdiction to hear and decide.
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Wesberry vs. Sanders
The 1964 case in which the Supreme Court invalidated unequal congressional districts, saying that all legislative districts must contain about equal numbers of people, establishing the principle of one person, one vote.
One Person, One Vote
The idea, arising out of the 1964 Supreme Court decision of Wesberry v. Sanders, that legislative districts must contain about the same number of people.
Representation
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Incumbency Advantage
The tendency for congressional incumbents to be overwhelmingly successful when they run for reelection due to the nature of congressional districts, resources, and relations with constituents, among other reasons.
The Concept of Election
Election
A collective decision-making process in which citizens choose an individual to hold and exercise the powers of public office. Elections are the primary mechanism that representative democracies use to achieve popular sovereignty.
Nomination
The process through which political parties winnow down a field of candidates to a single one who will be the party’s standardbearer in the general election.
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