| A | B |
|---|
| Bipartisan | Supported by two parties |
| Caucus | As a nominating device, a group of like mined people who meet to select the candidates they will support in an upcoming election. |
| Coalition | A temporary alliance of several groups who come together to form a working majority and exert control over government. |
| Congressional Campaign Committee | Body within each party with the goal of reelecting incumbants, retaining seats from retireing members and electing new party members to Congress. |
| Consensus | Agreement of various groups on fundemental (basic) matters; broad agreement on public questions. |
| Critical Election | An election that marks party realignment. |
| Economic Protest Party | Parties rooted in poor economic times, lacking a clear ideological base, dissatisfied with current conditions and demanding better times. |
| Electoral College | Group of persons chosen in each state and the District of Columbia every four years to make the formal selection of the President and Vice President. |
| Electoral Dealignment | The lack of party allegience within the electorate. |
| Electoral Realignment | A change in party allegience within the electorate. |
| Electorate | All of the people entitled to vote in a given election. |
| Faction | A conflicting group. |
| Ideological Party | Parties based on a particular set of beleifs, a comprehensive view of social, economic and political matters. |
| Ideology | A system of ideas and beliefs. |
| Incumbent | The current office holder. |
| Major Party | In American politics, the Republican and Democratic Parties. |
| Minor Party | One of the political parties not widely supported. |
| Multiparty | A system in which several major and many lesser parties exist , seriously compete for, and actually win public offices. |
| National Committee | The body that governs a politcal party. |
| National Convention | Meeting at which a party's delegates vote to pick their party's presidential and vice presidential candidates. |
| Nomination | The process of candidate selection in an electoral system. |
| One Party System | A political system in which only one party exsists. |
| Partisanship | Governmnet action based on firm allegiance to one political party. |
| Party Identification | Loyalty of people to a particular party. |
| Party in Power | In American politics, the party in power is the party that controls the executive brance-- ie the Presidency on the national level or the Governorship on a state level. |
| Party Machine | A party organization that recruits members by dispensing patronage. |
| Party Platform | A political party's formal statement of basic principles, stands on major issues and objectives. |
| Pluralistic Society | A society which consists of several distinct cultures and groups. |
| Plurality | In an election, the number of votes that the leading candidate obtains over the next highest candidate. |
| Political Party | A group of persons who seek to control government through the winning of elections and the holding of public office. |
| Precinct | The smallest unit of election administration; a voting district. |
| Proportional Representation | An electoral system in which parties gain representation based on the number of votes cast for them. |
| Sectionalism | A narrow minded concern for, and devotion to, the interests of one section of a country. |
| Single Issue Party | Parties that concentrate on only one public policy matter. |
| Single Member District | Electoral district from which one person is chosen by the voters for each elected office. |
| Splinter Party | Parties that have split away from one of the major parties. |
| Split Ticket Voting | Voting for candidates from different parties during the same election. |
| Two Party System | A political system dominated by two major parties. |
| Ward | A unit into which cities are often divided for the election of city council members. |
