The Relevance of Political Parties in Presidential Elections
As I survey the list of candidates on my absentee ballot for the 2004 General Elections, one thing sticks out. Republican, Democrat, Green, Libertarian, and Conservative- the list of Political Parties are endless. Even though no mention in the Constitution was made of parties and James Madison, in Federalist no. 10, defines a faction as a "number of citizens...united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community (Madison, 1787)." Certainly this sounds an awful like what many Americans would consider a Political Party. However, the modern day political party has differed greatly than the party's of yesteryear. These days' political parties, specifically the two major ones, concern themselves more with nominating and electing candidates, emphasizing winning of office in the short term as opposed to governing and influential policy making (Cotter, 1984, p. 3). This is a far cry from the party bosses and political machines of the early 20th century, like Ohio Republican Party Boss Mark Hanna who was widely believed to have wielded great power behind the scenes of the McKinley presidency. The Republican and Democratic
Bush, if they even decide to go out and vote at all? Even though many scholars have written in recent years that voters have been gradually de-aligning from political parties since the early 1970s, it can still be said that party identification is still a powerful predictor of voting behavior, even more so then socioeconomic status such as sex, class, or religion (Green, 2002). Although, the parties can only make minimal direct donations to their candidate, they can coordinate up to 16 million dollars of spending with their presidential nominees (Campaign Legal Center, 2004). In some respects this is similar to Hanna's role as McKinley's campaign chief but Gillespie and the RNC play a secondary role to their candidates' campaign, they don't run it completely like Hanna and his Republican Party did. But why are these important? What guarantees are there that these new voters will vote for the George W. But Hanna also exerted a great deal of influence on policy, running the campaign on issues that favored big business and later on actually making policy once McKinley was elected president (White, 2004, p. Also by "front-loading" the primaries, some states, such as New York's primary on Super Tuesday were relevant for the first time in years. In March of 2004 the Republican National Committee started the most ambitious voter registration drive ever undertaken by a political party, hoping to register one million new Republicans nationwide in one week (U. That niche still remains vital in order to understand the electoral process, as political parties use their power and influence to get their candidate elected, even, as seen, if it means to go as far as making sure a minor, but competing candidate is not on the ballot. Another important role the parties play in presidential elections is spearheading new voter registration drives. Although political parties have evolved and do not have the same control over their candidates for president that they once had, the Democratic and Republican parties have evolved into their own unique niche in the spectrum of American electoral politics, especially presidential elections. The reasoning behind this was to make sure that whoever the party's nominee turned out to be would have plenty of time to raise money and recoup from a grueling primary series in order to make him a stronger candidate against President Bush (White, 2004, p. flood of leaflets, posters, pamphlets and surrogate stump speakers" (Bailey, 2004) employed by Hanna in running the campaign. The parties also play a crucial role in structuring candidate selection.
Common topics in this essay:
George Bush,
Legal Center,
Democratic Parties,
Democratic Republican,
Bush White,
Obviously CPD,
McKinley Hanna,
Democratic Party,
National Committee,
Political Party,
political parties,
party candidate,
presidential debates,
democratic party,
political party,
third party,
third party candidate,
presidential elections,
republican party,
republican national committee,
candidates' campaign,
chance winning,
commission presidential debates,
legal center 2004,
spend unlimited amount,
|
Acceptance Essays
