| A | B |
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| caucus | An alternative to a state primary in which party followers meet, often for many hours, to select party candidates. |
| congressional campaign committee | Separate committees in Congress for each political party to help members who are running for reelection or would-be members running for an open seat or challenging a candidate from the opposition party. |
| direct primary | A proposal originated by progressive reformers to open up political parties to their membership. It permits a vote of party members to select the party's nominee in the general election. |
| economic-protest parties | Parties,usually based in a particular region, especially involving farmers, that protest against depressed economic conditions. These tend to disappear as conditions improve. An example would be the Greenback party. |
| factional parties | Parties that are created by a split in a major party, usually over the identity and philosophy of the major party's presidential candidate. An example would be the "Bull Moose" Progressive party. |
| first party system | The original party structure in which political parties were loose caucuses of political notables in various locations. It was replaced around 1824. |
| Ideological Party | A political party organization that values principle above all else and spurns money incentives for members to participate. |
| Initiative | A proposal favored by progressive reformers to curtail corruption. It allows a law to be enacted directly by vote of the people without approval of a legislative body. |
| Mugwumps | One of two major factions, largely within the republican party, who opposed the heavy emphasis on patronage and disliked the party machinery because it only permitted bland candidates to rise to the top, was fearful of immigrants, and wanted to see the party take unpopular stances on certain issues. They challenged the Old Guard from around 1896 to the 1930's, |
| National Chair | The person responsible for managing the day to day work of a national political party. The person is given a fulltime, paid position and is elected by the national committee. |
| National committee | Delegates from each state and territory who manage party affairs between national conventions. |
| National Party convention | The ultimate authority in both major political parties in the United States. The conventions are held every four years to nominate each party's candidate for the presidency. |
| Old Guard | One of two major factions, largely within the republican party, composed of the party regulars and professional politicians. they were preoccupied with building up the party machinery, developing party loyalty, and acquiring and dispensing partronage. |
| One-Issue Party | Parties seeking a single policy, usually revealed by their names, and avoiding other issues. |
| Personal Following | A type of local party organization in which a candidate gets people to work for him or her for a campaign and then the organization disbands until then next election. |
| Plurality system | An electoral system in which the winner is that person who gets the most votes, even if they do not constitute a majority of the votes. |
| Political Machine | A political party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives and is characterized by a high degree of leadership control over members' activities. |
| Political Party | A group that seeks to elect candidates to public office by supplying them with a label by which they are known to the electorate. |
| Second Party System | The second party structure in the nation's history, wich emerged when Andrew Jackson first ran for the presidency in 1824. the system was built from the bottom up as political particiation became a mass phenomenon. |
| solidary Incentive | An inducement that attracts people out of gregarious or game loving instincts. It is one reason why people become involved in a state or local party organizations. |
| Solidary Group | A political party organization based on gregarious or game loving instinces. It survives on the basis of a friendship network. |
| Special Interest Caucus | A group within a political party united by a concern over a specific cause. The Democratic party has attempted to assure many special interest groups representation at its national convention, although lately the party has moved away from this commitment. |
| Sponsored Party | A political party organization created or sponsored by another organizaion. This form of local party organization is rare in the United States. |
| Superdelegates | Elected officials and party leaders present a the national convention of the Democratic party. |
| Two Party system | An electoral system with two dominate parties that compete in state or national elections. Third parties have little chance of winning. |
| Unit Rule | A requirement that all delegates representing a state at a national party convention vote with the majority of their state delegation. |
| Winner take all system | An element of the electoral system used in the United States with precludes proportional representations, either in the electoral College or congress. |
