GOVT312: Political Parties and Campaigns

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Class handouts
On-Line class readings
Class assignments (Coming)
Lecture notes
Dr. McDonald contact Information

Class Materials

Tentative Syllabus

On-Line Class Readings (more to be added)

Assignment #1: Campaign Targeting Plan

Among the first things a campaign manager has to do is develop a plan to win the election. Big money donors, interest groups, and party officials will want to see this plan in order to be assured that the campaign has a plan for victory. This assignment covers three parts of the campaign plan: profile the district, calculate the number of votes needed to win the election, and develope lists of precincts for pursuasion and GOTV targeting. Items that are not covered in this assignment include the campaign message, a plan for free media, and a plan for paid media.

YOU MUST BE ASSIGNED A HOUSE OF DELEGATES DISTRICT. IF YOU HAVE NOT ATTENDED CLASS, CONTACT PROF. MCDONALD.

There are three components to this assignment:

Describe the district
Calculate the number of votes needed to win the election
Develop a targeting and GOTV plan for the campaign

You may play the role of the Democrat or Republican (it won't matter for the substance of the assignment which party your candidate is a member of).

Describe the district

Provide a profile of the district. Where is it? Who lives in it? What are some of the major employers within the district or other sources of votes (for example, a major university). Some resources that are available from Redistricting Virginia and Virginia State Board of Elections that might help you address this are:

A map of the district
The "normal" partisan vote within the district.
A demographic breakdown of the district.

Calculate turnout and the number of votes needed to win the election

Calculate average turnout in similar elections to the 2009 House of Delegates race. This number, divided by 50% +1 is the number of votes the candidate needs to win the election. (Hint: the 2005 election is the best comparison race for turnout.)

Once you've estimated how many people will vote in the House of Delegates race, take this number, divide by 2 and add 1. This is your target number for victory, and should be placed at the beginning of the targeting and GOTV section. All campaign resources should be expended to reach this number.

Develop a persuasion and GOTV targeting plan for the campaign

A targeting plan describes which precincts where you are going to find your supporters and persuadable voters. It is in the persuadable precincts that you will first send the candidate to go door to door. A GOTV plan describes which precincts you are going to first target your "Get Out the Vote" efforts on the weekend before the election.

Persuadable voters will be found in precincts that have varied their "normal vote" over time. For example, a precinct that went 40% for Bush in 2000 and 60% for Bush in 2004. The differences will rarely be that obvious. Select two or more elections and rank the precincts on their volatility. Those with the most volatility are your persuadable precincts.

A GOTV plan will target the precincts that provide the most reliable votes for your party. Rank the precincts with respect to their normal vote. Those with the highest vote (and least volatility) will have the priority for GOTV efforts.

As you rank precincts, consider voter turnout. A precinct that votes 100% for your party but few voters regularly vote is not as good a precinct to target resources into as a precinct with 100% support and a large number of voters. Rank the precincts with regards to the vote that they usually deliver.

Note that the reading:

Joel Bradshaw. “Who Will Vote for You and Why: Designing Campaign Strategy and Message.” in Campaigns and Elections American Style (Westview Press, 2004).

Is very helpful in doing this homework project.

Useful links for this project:

Assignment #2: Redistricting Game

For this assignment, you will play the on-line ReDistricting Game: http://www.redistrictinggame.org/

Instructions on how to play the simulation are available on the web site. To complete the assignment, you only need to play at the minimum Mission 2: Partisan Gerrymander at the Basic skill level (your choice if you want to be the Democrats or Republicans). Print out two screens: a picture of your map (you can print directly from your web browser) and the "submit for approval" screen that shows the legislature and governor have enacted your plan and the courts have approved it.

When you are done, please write a one page position paper on whether or not having legislators draw their own maps is a good or bad thing. There is no right answer here, only that you make a sound argument drawing from the class reading.

Assignment #3: Paper Topic
(Note: This Assignment is due Monday, Dec. 8, the date of our make-up class for the class cancelled on Thursday, Dec. 4)

Write a 7 page paper (double spaced, Times New Roman 12pt Font, Normal margins, use any reference style you prefer as long as it is consistent, references do not count towards page count) on the following topic:

How does a member represent their district in Congress? To answer this question, you need to address the following:

Describe the member's district. What is its population? What are the main industries and other important constituencies, such as a military base or a university?
What committees does the member sit on? How do these committees help the representative with their constituents?
What is the member's voting record and how does it fit with their district?
And for the tough one: can you find a vote where the member went against their district? Can you provide an explanation for the vote?

Class Lecture Notes (In PowerPoint)
Hint: For easier viewing, download the file by right-clicking your mouse and opening it in Powerpoint. Powerpoint has a feature that allows you to print out more than one slide on the same piece of paper. From "Print," select the "Print what" pull-down box for "Handouts." You can now change the number of slides you print on each page. (This works for older versions, I do not know the sequence for newer versions.)

Professor McDonald Contact Info

Office Hours for Fall 2008: T/TH 1-2:30pm or by appointment.
Office: Robinson A 234
Phone: 703-993-4191
email: mmcdon@gmu.edu