| A | B |
|---|
| Linkage Institutions | Gerneral Category, where people can express preferences regarding the development of public policy; AKA "informal institutions of government" |
| Political Party Characteristics | a group of people joined together by common philosophies; their main goal is to nominate people to get elected to office, in order to develop and implement public policy |
| Political Party Functions | nominate candiates for public office; promote candidates with the goal of getting elected; help raise money for candidates; help develop a platform and articulate the issues; coordinate policy implementation |
| Grassroots politics | political action at teh local level (fundraising, voter registrations, getting out the vote, holding candiate meetings, etc) |
| Party Realignment | the movement of voters form one political party to another in a major shift in succeeding elections (1968; 1980; 1994; 2006/2008?) |
| Party Dealignment | voters moving away from teh the 2 major parties and declaring themselves as independent, or aligning with a 3rd party |
| Third Political Parties | ideological, single-issue oriented, and personality driven. Will often influence major party platforms |
| Party Platform | outlines the philosophy, practice, and goals of a party and the candidates running for office from that party; adopted at the party's national convention |
| Conventional Political Participation | registering to vote/voting; joining a political party; attending political meetings; giving money to a campaign; contacting politicians; working on a campaign; running for office |
| Unconventinoal Political Participation | Used when conventional means fail; often involves protest and civil disobedience; in extreme cases, it can become violent |
| Invisible Primary | between a candidate announcing their run for President and the first vots cast; The primary goal is to raise the most money; frequent visits to early caucus/primary states; candidates who cannot raise sufficient funds drop out during this time period |
| Presidential Primaries | purpose is to choose delegates to the party's nominating convention |
| Open Primary | allows registered party members and independents to vote for candidates/delegates; NH is the first in the nation |
| Closed Primary | only registered party members can vote |
| "Winner takes all" primary | the candidate receiving the most votes gets all the delegats in that state |
| Retail politics | the way candidates conduct their campaign with the objective of meeting or connecting with voters one-on-one, or in small groups. Coffee shops, homes, parks, parades, etc are big pieces to this part of the campaign |
| Iowa Caucus | first in the nation presidential preference vote (normally early January of the election year) |
| New Hampshire Primary | first in the nation presidential vote; uses a secret ballot and voting machines. An open primary |
| Favorite Son | a politician who gets support from the state and geographic region he or she comes from |
| Front loaded primary | the move by states to move up their primaries and caucuses to gain national attention and have their states make an impact on teh presidential selection process; gives the front-runner an advantage because of early momentum and the ability to raise more cash |
| Super Tuesday | the date when a large number of states hold presidential primaries |
