Presidential Election Preview 1. What are the 2 major political parties in the

United States?___________________________________

2. Who ran against President Obama in the general

election in 2008 on the Republican side?__________________________

3. What is the difference between partisan, bipartisan, and nonpartisan? This is review! Think about the pictures we drew to show!

Partisan BipartisanNonpartisan

4. Let’s imagine that there is a cake contest between East and West High School. The school with the best cake wins a $1,000 prize from Northampton County. The contest has 2 stages.

-1st Stage: Bakers at both high schools compete within their school to find the BEST cake at West and the BEST cake at East separately. Members of the schools vote for BEST cake at each school. -2nd Stage: The 2 winning cakes (one from West and one from East) compete to find the BEST cake. Members of West and East vote for the winning cake in the county.

Critically thinking: What if all Northampton members could vote for the “best” cake at West during the 1st Stage? HOW could East rig (or mess up) the competition? Think about how they could vote in the 1st Stage to change the setup in the 2nd Stage of the competition!

• Announce Candidacy• Primaries and

Caucuses• Campaign Trail• National Convention• General Election

1. Announce Candidacy=make it public that you are running for President

President Obama announced his candidacy in his home state of Illinois, where Abraham Lincoln made a famous speech about ending slavery.

1. Label the political party on the LEFT and the RIGHT below.

Left Side=_______________ Right Side= _____________________

2. Why is there more than 1 person on each side above?

John Edwards

Joe Biden

Chris Dodd

John McCain Mike Huckabee

Mitt Romney

Ron PaulRudy Guiliani

2. Primaries or Caucuses=the elections where people choose the BEST Democrat candidate and the BEST Republican candidate separately

What you are deciding…

Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama

Mitt Romney or John McCain

Caucuses=MEETING where you TALK with others face-to-face to decide your choice Primaries=ELECTION where you VOTE for your choice

_________ _ ___________

Caucus

=MEETING where you DECIDE who should represent the party in the general election

PrimariesELECTION where you VOTE for your choice to represent the party in the general election (can be open or closed)

Democratic Primary Debate

Republican Primary Debate

Primaries can either be OPEN or CLOSED

OPEN=ALL registered voters -Ex: Republicans and Democrats can vote for a Republican in an Open Republican

Primary in their state

CLOSED=ONLY party members can vote Ex: Only Republicans can vote for a Republican in a Closed

Republican Primary in their state

4. Put C for Caucus or P for Primary for the descriptions below.Session where you vote- Session that meets-Private- Public-Face-to-face- Just you-Representative democracy- Direct democracy- Alabama - Open Primary (2/5).

Alaska - Caucuses (2/5). Arizona - Closed PPE (2/5). Arkansas - Open Primary (2/5). California - Primary (2/5). Colorado - Caucuses (2/5). Connecticut - Closed Primary (2/5). Delaware - Primary (2/5). District of Columbia - Primary (2/12). Florida - Primary (1/29). Georgia - Open Primary (2/5). Hawaii - Open Caucuses (3/2). Idaho - Open Primary (5/27). Illinois - Primary (2/5). Indiana - Open Primary (5/6).Indiana - Open Primary (5/6). Iowa - Caucus (1/3). Kansas - Caucuses (2/9)Kentucky - Closed Primary (5/20) Louisiana - Caucus (2/9). Deadline (1/11).

Maine - Caucuses (February 1 through February 3). Maryland - Closed Primary (2/12). Massachusetts - Semi-Closed Primary (2/5). Michigan - Open Primary (1/15). Minnesota - Open Caucuses (2/5 *). Mississippi - Open Primary (3/11). Missouri - Open Primary (2/5). Montana - Open Primary (6/3). Nebraska - Primary (5/13 *).Nevada - Caucuses (1/19). New Hampshire - Semi-Open Primary (1/8)New Jersey - Primary (2/5). . New Mexico - Republican Primary (6/3). Democrat closed caucus 2/5/08 New York - Closed Primary (2/5). North Carolina - Primary (5/6 *). North Dakota - Open Caucuses (2/5). Ohio - Semi-Open Primary (3/4). Oklahoma - Closed Primary (2/5).

Oregon - Closed Primary (5/20). Pennsylvania - Primary (4/22). Rhode Island - Primary (3/4). . South Carolina - Open Primary (1/19-R) (1/26-D). South Dakota - Closed Primary (6/3). Tennessee - Open Primary (2/5). Texas - Semi-Open Primary (3/4) & Closed Caucus (begins 3/4, schedule based on party rules). Utah - Closed Primary (2/5). Vermont - Open Primary (3/4). Virginia - Open Primary (2/12). Washington - Open Caucus (2/9) & Primary (2/19). This is a two step process. West Virginia -Closed Primary (18 Delegates at the State Convention on 2/5 (ask the state party for details), 12 Delegates for the 5/13 Primary). Wisconsin - Open Primary (2/19).Wyoming - Caucus (3/8)

5. Examples of OPEN and CLOSED primaries. Circle all of the people who can vote. OPEN: New Hampshire’s Republican Primary

a. Republicans b. Democratsc. Independents d. Anybody can vote

CLOSED: North Carolina’s Democratic Primary

a. Republicans b. Democratsc. Independents d. Anybody can vote

OPEN: Georgia’s Democratic Primary

a. Republicans b. Democratsc. Independents d. Anybody can vote

CLOSED: Colorado’s Republican Primary

a. Republicans b. Democratsc. Independents d. Anybody can vote

3. Campaign Trail=where the Presidential candidates for each political party travel around America and try to convince voters to vote for them

6. What do candidates need to do on the campaign trail to try and get votes?

Retail politics: Sell Yourself!

Use your plain folks appeal!

4. National Convention=an event where each political party officially announces their BEST presidential candidate and has a celebration

RNC 2008

Debates: held during primaries and during the general election

What political party are both of these candidates from?

So was this debate during the primaries or the general election?

What political parties are represented here?

5. General Election=the FINAL election where Americans vote for the BEST PRESIDENT (choose between the Democrat and Republican)

How are primaries/caucuses different from the general election?

Voting in the General Election… Straight Ticket=on your ballot, you can

check a box that votes for all candidates in ONE political party

Split Ticket=on your ballot, you can vote

for both Democrats and Republicans

12. Illustrate the difference between a straight and split ticket.

Straight Ticket

Democrat-President

Republican-Governor

Democrat- Governor

Republican-Senator

Democrat- Senator

Split Ticket

Democrat-President

Republican-Governor

Democrat-Governor

Republican-Senator

Democrat- Senator

7. Timeline diagram of Election. Mark the points on the timeline below showing the order of election events:

Question Scrambler Directions Part 1: Read through the questions

and write down at least 2 keywords that come to mind to help you answer that question if you were given it as a multiple-choice question. Some of these questions should be review.

1. What word best describes someone who is to the right on the political ideology spectrum?

2. Which of the following best describes happens in a

primary? 3. Which normally describes the political party system in

the United States?

Question Scrambler Directions Part 2: Go around the room reading

the questions NOW as multiple-choice questions. Write down the letter of the correct answer next to the question on this sheet of paper.

1. What word best describes someone who is to the right on the political ideology spectrum?

T) Conservative U) Liberal V) Moderate W) Radical

2. Which of the following best describes happens in a primary?

A) Members of a single political party are nominated to run for public office.

B) Presidential candidates from different political parties debate each other.

C) All registered voters go to the polls to elect candidates for public office.

D) Gubernatorial candidates from different political parties debate each other.

3. Which normally describes the political party system in the United States?

G) Multi-partyH) Republic of partiesI) Two-partyJ) Coalition of parties

4. How are caucuses different from primary elections?

P) Primaries can only be held in states after the initial caucus has taken place.

Q) Primaries are used in large states where voters select candidates at the same time.

R) Caucuses do not have the power to designate a political candidate as a party's caucus winner.

S) Caucuses are informal meetings of voters where discussions and support for candidates can be debated.

5. Which type of election takes place after voters have selected their party’s candidate in the primary?

Q) Primary election R) General election S) Closed election T) Open election

6. The above cartoon depicts that...

S) The United States is a one-party system.

T) The United States is a two-party system. U) The United States is a multi-party system.

V) The United States is a democratic system.

7. The major role of political parties in the U.S. is to

G) Propose constitutional amendmentsH) Nominate candidates for public office I) Conduct surveys to determine the popular

opinion of public officials J) Break down the revenues and expenditures of

the federal government

8. Which statement best describes the difference between Democrats and Republicans?

E) Democrats are classified as reactionary, where as Republicans are classified as holding moderate views.

F) Republicans are said to hold a more liberal political ideology and Democrats adhere to more conservative values.

G) Democrats are said to hold more liberal political ideology and Republicans adhere to more conservative values.

H) Republicans advocate for economic issues, where as Democrats advocate for environmental issues.

9. How does the willingness of North Carolina voters to “split their tickets” reflect a nonpartisan spirit in the state?

K) It shows that citizens are willing to share the expenses of traffic violations.

L) It shows that voters respond to issues and not just party politics.

M) It shows that citizens are apathetic about social issues.

N) It shows that voters prefer to have a more bureaucratic government.

10. What is the major difference between open and closed primaries?

R) In a closed primary, voters do not have to be registered as a party member.

S) In a closed primary, voters must be registered as a party member.

T) In a closed primary, party leaders discuss issues and choose candidates.

U) In a closed primary, voters can select self-nominated candidates.

11. Which type of election allows voters to choose candidates from any political party?

N) closed election O) general election P) open election Q) primary election

12. How are presidential primary elections different from presidential general elections?

I) In a primary, members of the same party run against each other

J) In a primary, there is only one winner

K) In a primary, members of both parties usually vote at the same time

L) In a primary, the winner becomes president

13. During the summer of a presidential year, party delegates from across the United States take part in an event where they gather together. What is the name of this event?

S) A National CampaignT) A National ConventionU) National RallyV) National Conference

Bingo Clues

• When celebrities endorse (or support) certain political campaigns

• The Vice President of the United States

• ELECTION where you VOTE for your choice to represent the party in the general election (can be open or closed)

•2 parties working together

a political party with one boss who controls the local

government

Propaganda Technique: Saying your JUST like the people

you are trying to get to vote for you

The other democratic candidate who ran against Obama in the

primaries

An election in which ONLY party members can vote

The Current Vice President of the United States

on your ballot, you can check a box that votes for all candidates in ONE

political party

=the FINAL election where Americans vote for the BEST

PRESIDENT (choose between the Democrat and Republican)

•make it public that you are running for President

•An issue that is not political in any way is _____________

Propaganda Technique:Name-calling repeatedly so that you

only show ONE side of the story

•=MEETING where you DECIDE who should represent the party in the general election

The current President of the United States

=on your ballot, you can vote for both Democrats and Republicans

an event where each political party officially announces their BEST

presidential candidate and has a celebration

arguments between candidates on TV

where the Presidential candidates for each political party travel

around America and try to convince voters to vote for them

When the boss of a political machine hires friends or gives jobs

to people in exchange for their support or as a reward.

•An election in which all registered voters can vote

Propaganda Technique:Making general, NOT SPECIFIC statements that sound nice to all political

sides (Rep, Dem., or Independent)

An issue in which parties are against each other is

_______________________

the media tends to make things more dramatic and

“______________________”

the people a government official represents

Propaganda technique:Saying “EVERYONE” supports me,

so YOU should too!

a printed guide that gives ONLY facts about candidates and issues

and NOT opinions.

Calling an opponent only negative things

the government sends information about what it is going to do to media outlets (television

networks, radio networks, newspapers etc.) and the media releases the information to the

public