Terms : Hide Images
| 8598429453 | Caucus | a meeting of party followers in which party delegates are selected | 0 | |
| 8598429454 | momentum | when a candidate wins (especially an upset win), he tends to do better than expected in future contests. Sometimes also called the bandwagon effect | 1 | |
| 8598429455 | retrospective voting | voting for a candidate because you like his or her past actions in office | 2 | |
| 8598429456 | prospective voting | voting for a candidate because you favor his or her ideas for handling issues | 3 | |
| 8598429457 | valence issues | an issue on which everyone agree, but the question is whether or not the candidate embraces that view | 4 | |
| 8598429458 | positional issues | an issue in which rival candidates have opposing views but that also divides the voters | 5 | |
| 8598429459 | incumbent | the person already holding an elective office | 6 | |
| 8598429460 | incumbency advantage | the tendency of incumbents to do better than otherwise similar challengers, especially in congressional elections | 7 | |
| 8598429461 | gerrymandering | drawing the boundaries of legislative districts in bizarre or unusual shapes to favor one party | 8 | |
| 8598429462 | surge and decline | tendency for the president's party to do better in presidential years when he is at the top pf the ticket (surge), but do worse when he is not because many voters are less enthusiastic and stay home (decline) | 9 | |
| 8598429463 | coattails | the alleged tendency of candidates to win more votes in an election because of the top of the ticket of a better-known candidate, such as the president | 10 | |
| 8598429464 | political action committees (PACs) | committee set up by a corporation, labor union, or interest group that raises and spends campaign money from voluntary donations. | 11 | |
| 8598429465 | independent expenditures | spending by political action committees, corporations, or labor unions to help a party or candidate but done independently of them | 12 | |
| 8598429466 | soft money | funds obtained by political parties that are spent on party activities such as get out the vote drives, but not on behalf of a specific candidate | 13 | |
| 8598429467 | 527 organizations | organizations under section 527 of the international revenue code that raise and spend money to advance political causes | 14 | |
| 8598429468 | super PACs | a group that raises and send unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions, and individuals but cannot coordinate it's activities with campaigns in any way | 15 |
