US Government - Political Parties

261284535	Political Party	a voluntary association of people who seek to control the government through common principles based upon peaceful and legal actions, such as the winning of elections.
261284536	patronage	Granting favors or giving contracts or making appointments to office in return for political support.
261284537	Realigning Election	An election in which the popular support for and relative strength of the parties shift as the parties are reestablished with different coalitions of supporters.
261284538	Split ticket	Voting for candidates of different parties for various offices in the same election.
261284539	Straight ticket	Voting for candidates who are all of the same party.
261284540	National convention	A meeting of party delegates held every four years.
261284541	National committee	Delegates who run party affairs between national conventions.
261284542	Congressional campaign committee	A party committee in Congress that provides funds to members and would-be members.
261284543	National Chairman	A paid, full-time manager of a party's day-to-day work who is elected by the national committee.
261284544	Soft money	Funds spent by parties that are not contributed directly to candidate campaigns, and which do not "expressly advocate" the election or defeat of a candidate.
261284545	Super delegates	Party leaders and elected officials who become delegates to the national converntion whitout having to run in primaries or caucuses.
261284546	Political machine	A party organization that recruits members by dispensing patronage.
261284547	Ideological party	A party that values principled stands on issues above all else.
261284548	Two party system	An electoral system with two dominant parties that compete in national elections.
261284549	Plurality system	An electoral system in which the winner is the person who gets the most votes, even if he or she does not recieve a majority; used in almost all American elections.
261284550	Caucus	A meeting of local party members to choose party officials or candidates for public office and to decide the platform.
261284551	Single-member districts	electoral district from which one person is chosen by the voters for each elected office
261284552	New Deal coalition	coalition forged by the Democrats who dominated American politics from the 1930's to the 1960's. its basic elements were the urban working class, ethnic groups, Catholics and Jews, the poor, Southerners, African Americans, and intellectuals.
261284553	Divided government	Governance divided between the parties, as when one holds the presidency and the other controls one or both houses of Congress.
261284554	Gridlock	the inability of the government to act because rival parties control different parts of the government
261284555	Dealignment	Weakening of partisan preferences that points to a rejection of both major parties and a rise in the number of Independents.
261284556	Electorate	all persons having the right to vote