Campaigns and Elections

Questions and Answers about the elections in the United States of America.

The United States is a federation, with elected officials at the federal (national), state and local levels. On a national level, the head of state, the President, is elected indirectly by the people, through an Electoral College. Today, the electors virtually always vote with the popular vote of their state. All members of the federal legislature, the Congress, are directly elected.

Why? We're glad you asked. We've got five reasons why you should vote in the election today (if you haven't already). So read these and get to your nearest polling location to cast your vote.

As Senator Mark Hanna said in 1895: "There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money and I can't remember what the second one is." The need to raise vast sums of money from special interests drives the behavior of elected officials in many ways, most of them bad for civility and public policy. Here, for example, is a list of the "heavy hitters," the biggest donors to congressional campaigns, according to FEC records.

In politics, money matters. That's why politicians spend so much of their time not just trying to woo voters, but also raising money. In the 2012 presidential election, President Obama, the Democratic Party and supportive outside groups raised more than $1.1 billion in his victorious campaign; his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, his party and backers raised even more, $1.24 billion.

The debacle surrounding the Republican victory in 2000 demonstrated to the world that America's electoral process is wide open to abuse. But as Paul Harris discovers, the system has actually worsened since then.

In the U.S. presidential election system, how does the Electoral College work?

Congress can regulate the "manner" in which an election is run, not the speech leading up to it.

Campaigns & Elections is the preeminent "how-to" journal of politics, focused on the tools, tactics and techniques of the political consulting profession.

An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office.