| A | B |
|---|
| Agenda Setting | describes the "ability [of the news media] to influence the salience of topics on the public agenda. |
| Associated Press | International news agency that provides reports through the World Wide Web, television, radio, and print publications. |
| Australian Ballot | The system of voting in which voters mark their choices in privacy on uniform ballots printed and distributed by the government or designate their choices by some other secret means |
| Buckley v. Valeo(1976) | Was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a federal law which set limits on campaign contributions, but ruled that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally protected free speech, and struck down portions of the law. |
| Citizens United Case | Was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the First Amendment prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by corporations and unions. |
| Coattail effect | The tendency for a popular political party leader to attract votes for other candidates of the same party in an election. |
| Direct election | is a term describing a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the person, persons or political party That they desire to see elected |
| Exit Poll | A poll asked specifically who have just voted |
| Fairness Doctrine | Was a policy of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), introduced in 1949, that required the holders of broadcast licenses to both present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was, in the Commission's view, honest, equitable and balanced. |
| Feeding Frenzy | A ruthless attack on or exploitation of someone especially by the media. |
| Fireside chats | A series of radio chats given by president Franklin D. Roosevelt addressing the country of current problems |
| General Election | Would be the election where you are electing the president and members of congress |
| Horserace election | Journalism that covers an election but pays attention to who is ahead in the election rather than the actual issues themselves |
| Independent expenditure | A political activity intended to assist or oppose a specific candidate for office that is not necessarily done with their cooperation, approval, or direct knowledge. Most commonly, this takes the form of advertising. |
| Issue advocacy ads | Communications intended to bring a problem to light. |
| McCain-Feingold(BCRA) 2002 | Bans soft money |
| Midterm(Congressional)Election | Midterm elections are elections in the United States in which members of United States Congress and state legislatures are elected |
| Nonpartisan elections | A partisan election follows the format that lists every candidate for election and their political party identification. |
| Office-colum ballot | A ballot in which candidates are arranged by Party rather than office. It encourages split-ticket voting. |
| Party-Column ballot | The manner in which candidates are listed—by party column or by office bloc |
| Photo opportunity | is an opportunity to take a memorable and effective photograph of a politician. |
| Plurality | to the largest number of votes to be received by any candidate |
| safe seat | A congressional seat in which a candidate is "guaranteed" or very likely to win because of their party identification. For example, in CA, Senate seats are likely to go to Democrats and Senator Feinstein has been re-elected several times. |
| single-member district | In US House of Reps elections, only one candidate, the one with the most votes is named the winner. In other words, there are no rewards or positions for 2nd place. |
| Solid South | Refers to the tendency of the southern states to vote Republican since around Nixon's election. |
| spin control | Making media stories sound a certain way or more favorable to a candidate rather than negative (as they may have been originally intended) |
| split-ticket voting | Often done by independents or undecided voters. This means that on one ballot, the voter is casting votes for some Democrats and some Republicans or third parties. |
| straight-ticket voting | When a voter casts their votes for all members of the same party on a ballot (i.e. voting for Democratic candidates in all offices) |
| Super Tuesday | A day during the primary election season when many states hold their primaries on the same day (usually in Feb. or March) |
| Super PAC | Resulting from the Citizens United 2010 decision. These PACs donate in unlimited amounts to influence elections. |
| swing state | A state which does not always vote for one party, such as Ohio or Florida. Their results have a big impact on elections and thus candidates and the media pay a lot of attention to them. |
