This Week's Schedule

Wednesday: Review for Exam Two. Bring questions to class.

Friday: Exam Two in class.

Papers due in Class Wednesday

This is a reminder that papers are due in class on Wednesday. The expectations for the papers are available here and the course syllabus discusses the papers as well; it is available here. Do not forget to include boldface headings that separate out each section. This will allow me to determine how you are applying your congressional election to the theories and concepts discussed in class.

I'm sure some of you are finished, some of you are revising and editing, and some of you are starting. As you are in these various stages of completion, keep in mind that you should state explicitly how the findings you have about your congressional election relate back to the theories and concepts from the class.

Best of luck with the writing and feel free to email me any questions.

Money in the Midterms

The New York Times article and graphic I discussed in class on Friday is available here.

Also, do not forget that the paper is due in class on Wednesday. The requirements for the paper are in a document posted to the course blog a few weeks ago.

See you in class on Monday.

Organizational Success and Organizational Failure

I hope you all had a great weekend!

This week's reading focuses on campaign organizations. What do most of us know about campaign organizations? Unfortunately, not too much. The media, of course, is willing to share their thoughts about good and bad campaigns. Here and here are two articles from the 2008 presidential campaign that focus on the shortcomings of the McCain campaign and the successes of the Obama campaign.

While these articles offer some insights as to how the organizations work and how principals actors within the organizations perceived their successes and failures, what more can be said about the McCain and Obama campaigns? Think critically about what else was occurring in the strategic context that allowed the media to portray the Obama campaign as innovative, strategic, and successful, while at the same time portraying the McCain campaign as being in disarray. In particular, I want you to consider which approach is more likely to describe the dynamics of campaign organizations:

1. Campaign organizations --> political outcomes
In this approach, the strategic moves by campaign organizations influence voters, the media, etc., and ultimately lead to political outcomes. How would we see evidence of this?
OR...
2. Political outcomes --> Campaign organizations
In this approach, the political context influences the decisions campaigns make about their organizational structure, strategy, and tactics. How would we see evidence of this?

I will have the exams back to you at some point this week. See you in class.

Nonprofits and Campaign Activity

Today's New York Times has an article about Senate Democrats requesting that the IRS begin to investigate whether nonprofit groups under the 501(c)(4), 501(c)(5), and 501(c)(6) tax status are following the law. Recall that these groups' primary purpose may not be campaign activity.

Pastors Defy Tax Code

We talked in class on Friday about the different ways independent groups get involved in campaigns. Non-profit, tax exempt groups are allowed to get involved with campaigns, but only to the extent that they do not endorse candidates. On the other hand, they can get involved with nonpartisan activity, such as holding candidate forums, educating voters, and registering voters. These groups fall under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS tax code, and as such, they receive tax exempt status. This means that these groups do not have to pay taxes on their income. The most obvious example of a 501(c)(3) organization is a church. Indeed, according to a recent ABC News article located here, a number of pastors plan to get involved in partisan politics this year. In fact, these churches will be sending copies of their partisan sermons to the IRS in the hopes that the IRS will investigate them.

Why do they want to be investigated? The churches see an investigation as an opportunity to file a federal lawsuit against the IRS which prevents them from engaging in partisan activity. They feel that the courts, rather than having the law overturned by Congress, is a venue where they are likely to be more successful. The opposite view is that churches are free to give up their tax exempt status if they wish to engage in partisan activity. Regardless of what position you take on the issue, this shows that churches, like business groups, labor unions, candidates, and parties, are all planning to get involved with this year's election.

Americans for Job Security

The New York Times has a timely article (given our reading this week) on Americans for Job Security, a tax-exempt 501(c)(6) business organization. The article is here. Take a look at the graphics and video clips associated with the article.