With the 2008 election quickly approaching, candidates continue the scramble to fund their campaigns--collecting money from individuals, corporations, and labor unions. Students can learn a great deal about the political system by examining how politicians are financed. The vast majority of high school students do not understand the influence of…

Political campaigns are major, high-budget marketing efforts, but because they are usually managed by people with little training in either marketing or communications, they fail to persuade voters to vote in the desired way. Political targeting can be treated as a segmentation problem, one of identifying and responding to the specific qualities…

Examines the history of U.S. political primaries, discusses Democratic Party reforms in the presidential nomination process since 1968, and cites important generalizations about how the process works today. States that the system lessens party leader influence, giving the media power to set public expectations and declare winners and losers. (GEA)

Assesses the effect of the changing social and political environment of education on the nature and patterns of school board elections. Infers that board elections are becoming increasingly politicized in spite of the historic ideology that education is and ought to be an autonomous and nonpolitical function of government. (Author/MK)

Compares the ritual of the American presidential nomination acceptance speech to the rhetorical ritual of the Puritan jeremiad to discover both similarities and differences. Examines each as a means of interpreting the meaning of the past and unifying the audience around a shared vision of the future. (JMF)

A panel presentation and discussion of the effect of politics on the elected governing boards of the public higher education institutions in Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, and Nevada, especially in relation to board election procedures and the state system's complexity, is summarized. (MSE)

This workshop summary offers a guide for women who are considering seeking public office. It covers pre-campaign concerns, development of a campaign plan, and keeping the campaign on target. While a campaign plan should be an anchor, it also should be a flexible tool that can be revised, if necessary. The document discusses "targeting,"…

Over the course of the 20th century, American Presidential campaign rhetoric has undergone various metamorphoses. Most of these changes can be traced to developments in technology and media. Furthermore, many of these changes have had the unfortunate effect of undermining a rational choice of the electorate, and thus threaten our democracy. Like…

A review of national presidential election campaigns since the passage of Section 315 of the Communications Act of 1934 indicates the inadequacies of that section and the need for its revision. Section 315 stipulates equal access to the mass media for all legally qualified political candidates. Basically, the difficulty with Section 315 is that it…

The 1996 presidential elections will be, in part, a referendum on affirmative action, with partisan battle lines drawn. When the issue is framed for the voter as a choice between group equality or individual merit, affirmative action loses. Recent history suggests that a majority of Americans reject explicit group preferences. (SLD)

Outlines the strategic setting of the 1988 U.S. presidential election, highlights what is at stake for each party, and considers those political issues that may affect its outcome. Examines domestic and foreign policy issues, stressing those that affect two key groups: northern workers and "have not/have little" white Southerners. (GEA)

The statement of Senator Alan Simpson (Republican, Wyoming) is in opposition to the House of Representatives Bill to reauthorize use of bilingual ballots in United States elections. The principal argument offered is that use of bilingual ballots would promote divisiveness rather than inclusion or cohesion, by encouraging the growth of enclaves…

In an electoral process in 1988 and 1989, voters replaced General Augusto Pinochet as leader of Chile. The use of political cartoons by both pro- and anti-Pinochet forces is explored in this paper. Cartoons have long been recognized as a form of mass communication. In the Chilean elections cartoons played an important role in the battle for the…