Term
| What was the U.S. Congress greatly influenced by? |
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Definition
| Colonial experience and the Articles of Confederation |
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Term
| What is the name of the upper house and how many representatives does it get? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the lower house called and how is apportioned? |
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Definition
| The House of Representatives and population. |
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Term
| How long is a Senator's term with what portion up every two years? |
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Definition
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Term
| How many years does a House member serve? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is that thing called that is required by the Constitution to count the people? |
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Definition
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Term
| What does the census determine? |
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Definition
| the representation in the House of Representatives. |
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Term
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Definition
| the redrawing of congressional districts to reflect changes in seats allocated to the states from population shifts |
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Term
| When the process is outrageously political, what is it called? |
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Definition
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Term
| Name the powers of Congress |
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Definition
Spend Money, Regulate Commerce, Create Courts, Declare War, Make all laws
“necessary and proper” to carrying out
the enumerated powers, Lawmaking, Taxation |
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Term
| Of those powers in Congress, which is the most important? |
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Definition
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Term
| In order to become a law it must pass which houses? |
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Definition
| Both the Senate and the House. |
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Term
| What are the main differences with respect to the House? |
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Definition
Initiate revenue bills
Two-year term
435
Formal
Specialist
Tax policy |
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Term
| What are the main differences with respect to the Senate? |
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Definition
Advise and consent
Six-year term
100
Relaxed
Generalist
Foreign policy |
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Term
| What are the members of Congress? |
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Definition
| Congress is older, better educated, whiter, and richer than most of us. |
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Term
| How many women senators were in the 106th Congress? |
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Definition
9
(6 Democrats)
(3 Republicans) |
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Term
| How many women representatives were in the 106th Congress? |
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Definition
56
(41 Democrats)
(17 Republicans) |
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Term
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Definition
| representatives use their own best judgment |
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Term
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Definition
| representatives vote the way their constituents want them to |
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Term
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Definition
| representatives act as trustee or delegate depending on the issue |
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Term
| What is a Standing Committee? |
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Definition
| continues from one Congress to the next. |
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Term
| What is a Joint Committee? |
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Definition
| set up to expedite business between the two houses. |
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Term
| What is a Conference committee? |
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Definition
| special joint committees that resolve differences in bills passed by either house. |
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Term
| What are Ad hoc, special, or select committees? |
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Definition
| temporary committees designed for a specific purpose. |
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Term
| Approximately what percentage of the over 9000 bills that are proposed are enacted? |
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Definition
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Term
| Where are bills originated? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are the three stages that it needs to go through to become a law? |
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Definition
| committees, the floor, and the conference committee |
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Term
| What are the ways that members make decisions? |
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Definition
| Interest Groups, Colleagues, Party, Staff, Political Action Committees, Constituents, Caucuses |
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Term
| Congress retains these powers vis-a-vis the President? |
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Definition
funding powers
oversight
impeachment/removal |
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Term
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Definition
riots
general strikes
coups d'etats |
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Term
| What are the names of the different kinds of elections? |
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Definition
Primary Elections
General Elections
Initiative, Referendum, and Recall |
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Term
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Definition
| They allow citizens to propose legislation and submit it to popular vote. |
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Term
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Definition
| It allows the legislature to submit proposed legislation for popular approval. |
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Term
| What is a recall election? |
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Definition
| It allow citizens to remove someone from office. |
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Term
| When is the Presidential Election held? |
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Definition
| Every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. |
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Term
| What is a primary election? |
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Definition
| Election in which voters decide which of the candidates within a party will represent the party in the general election. |
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Term
| What is a closed primary? |
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Definition
| A primary election in which only a party's registered voters are elegible to vote. |
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Term
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Definition
| a primary in which any registered voter can vote (but must vote for candidates of only one party) |
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Term
| What is crossover voting? |
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Definition
| Participation in the primary of a party with which the voter is not affiliated. |
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Term
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Definition
| An organized attempt by voters of one party to influence the primary results of the other party. |
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Term
| What is a blanket primary? |
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Definition
| A primary in which voters may cast ballots in either party's primary (but not both) on an office-by-office basis. |
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Term
| What is a runoff primary? |
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Definition
| A second primary election between the two candidates recieving the greatest number of votes in the first primary. |
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Term
| What is the winner-take-all primary? |
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Definition
| In the simplest kind of election, the candidate who receives the most votes wins, or "takes all." Most elections, whether of government officials or in the private sector, are decided on a winner-take-all basis. The winner is the person who receives a plurality of at least one vote. |
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Term
| What is a proportional representative primary? |
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Definition
| A system of voting that gives minority parties representation in a legislature in proportion to their share of the popular vote. |
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Term
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Definition
| A simple straw vote or other selection process that has no effect on the allocation of delegates to a party nominating convention. |
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Term
| What is a caucus primary? |
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Definition
| The party members meet in small groups throughout a state to select the party delegates. |
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Term
| What is a regional primary? |
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Definition
| a proposed system in which the country would be divided into five or six geographic areas would hold their presidential primary elections on the same day. |
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Term
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Definition
| the tendency for a state to choose an early date on the primary calendar |
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Term
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Definition
| A traditional party practice under which the majority of a state delegation can force the minority to vote for its candidate. |
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Term
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Definition
| Delegate slot to the Democratic Party's national convention that is reserved for an elected party official. |
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Term
| There are a total of _____ electoral votes |
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Definition
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Term
| A majority of ____ wins the presidency |
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Definition
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Term
| What are Party Realignments? |
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Definition
| are rare occurrences in which existing party affiliations change dramatically. |
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Term
| What is Secular Realignment? |
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Definition
| The gradual shifting of party coalitions. |
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Term
| In Congressional elections? |
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Definition
candidates tend to be less visible.
most candidates are or were state legislators.
name recognition is often the most
important battle of the campaign.
candidates receive little media coverage. |
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Term
| What is Incumbency advantage? |
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Definition
| the electoral edge afforded to those already in office |
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Term
| What is voter participation divided by? |
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Definition
About 40% of the eligible adult population votes regularly.
About 25% are occasional voters.
About 35% rarely or never vote. |
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Term
| How do people generally vote in terms of income? |
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Definition
| people with higher incomes have a higher tendency to vote. |
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Term
| How do people generally vote in terms of Age? |
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Definition
| older people tend to vote more often than younger people (less than half of eligible 18-24 year olds are registered to vote). |
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Term
| How do people generally vote in terms of Gender? |
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Definition
| Since 1980, women have a higher tendency to vote for Democrats than Republicans. |
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Term
| How do people generally vote in terms of Race? |
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Definition
| in general, whites tend to vote more regularly than African-Americans (this may be due to income and education rather than race). |
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