There is a great deal of work on campaign finance at the national level, however, state level research is sparse. My dissertation fills this void in the literature by examining the motivations of contributors to state legislators. The literature discusses two major motivations of contributors universalistic contributors, who hope to influence election outcomes, and particularistic contributors who hope to influence legislative votes. The primary hypothesis is that proximity to the general election is the primary factor in explaining contribution patterns in state legislatures; however, proximity to a legislative vote of interest to the contributor will also be significant in explaining contribution patterns. Additionally, the dissertation examines the impact of session limits on contribution patterns. I use campaign contribution data collected by the National Institute on Money in State Politics and select twenty-five bills in nine states to test the primary hypothesis. I use a contributor fixed effects model to test for increased or decreased levels of contributions for each contributor, given the proximity to the election and legislative votes important to the contributor. The results indicate that contributions increase across all states in the two months prior to the general and primary elections, and that proximity to the election is the most important factor in explaining campaign contributions in state legislatures. In 32% of all cases in the study, there was direct evidence of interest groups attempting to influence the outcome of legislative votes. Additionally, an increase in contributions close to a major legislative vote occurred in 77% of the cases without session limits, indicating that interest groups are highly active in attempting to influence policy outcomes. An additional examination of contribution patterns indicates that PACs shift their contributions to the beginning of the legislative session when faced with session limits. My research contributes to our understanding of the motives of campaign contributors and their actions when faced with legal restrictions on their contributions. This research, therefore, allows campaign finance reformers to make better reform decisions.

Whig campaign strategists in the presidential election of 1840 developed new campaign tactics that included widespread use of campaign songs. They used these songs to sing the praises of their own candidate and policies while at the same time attacking the opposing party's candidate and policies. As early as 1842 these songwriters began writing songs in anticipation of the campaign in 1844. Prior to the nomination of candidates in May, 1844, the Whigs had published several songbooks including hundreds of song titles. In addition to supporting the candidacy of Henry Clay as the Whig candidate, the songs ridiculed several potential Democratic candidates including Martin Van Buren, John C. Calhoun, James Buchanan, and others. Whigs also used imagery to support their candidate and attack the foe. Despite extensive efforts to influence the election with campaign songs, no hard evidence exists that documents the effect of campaign songs, either positively or negatively.

As mentioned above, this master thesis is focused on some processes which an election campaign is affected by. In the first place, it analyses processes and trends which are typical for the legal regulation of election campaigns in the Czech Republic. My approach to this topic is centered on restrictive parameter limits which influence election campaigns. The core of the master thesis is naturally aimed at the field of law. The aim of the master thesis is to present basic knowledge of the matter which is still topical in the Czech society based on the fact that elections are held quite often. The master thesis can therefore serve as a source of information for further analysing election campaigns whose main purpose is to win the biggest voters' support. The master thesis is divided into four chapters. The first one concerns a theoretical background of election campaigns. The second one examines an election campaign itself, its legal regulation de lege lata respectively. The third chapter studies general principles relative to conducting an election campaign. The final chapter reflects the current situation in the Czech Republic as regards the direct presidential election.

A research report submitted to the School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities of the University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Political Studies / “South Africa’s democracy is faced with a clear and immediate threat”. In a nutshell this is the narrative developed and adopted by countless activists and political commentators who believe that to move forward as a nation legislation regulating private funding of political parties must be introduced. The key objective is transparency – without it the fear is that donors will essentially be able to buy influence within the government. The constant insinuations and reports of adverse donor influences have not done anything to allay these fears. This research paper will examine the legitimacy of these claims. Is it indeed imperative that we regulate private funding? If we are to determine whether there is a need to adjust South African law to safeguard the democratic values that the nation has held dear for over 20 years, then we must answer a set of subsidiary questions, such as what alternatives do we have? Is transparency really a goal that should be fought to achieve? To what extent to South Africa’s political parties rely on funding from private sources? To answer these questions this research paper will develop a thorough understanding of the financial and the political climate political parties find themselves in and ultimately determine whether the country’s democracy is faced with a legitimate threat and if so what can be done to avert it.

The question of whether or not campaigns have an impact on vote choice and mobilization has been debated by a number of scholars. In this dissertation, I explore this question using data from presidential nomination elections, as I argue this setting allows us to better understand campaign effects than the general election. Due to the intra-party nature of nomination contests, voters are not able to rely on partisanship in making their decision among candidates. Instead voters need to use some other source of information in making their decisions about 1) whether or not to vote and 2) which candidate to vote for. I explore these two decisions in depth in my dissertation, focusing mainly on the effect visits have on both. I have compiled data on both the timing and location of all of the candidate visits throughout the presidential nominating contests of 2008, across both the invisible primary and election year campaigns. Using this unique dataset, I explore the different ways in which state visits affect presidential nomination outcomes. Specifically, I investigate the strategy behind the visits, whether or not visits increase turnout, and how visits affect vote choice. By examining these different aspects of nominating campaigns, I am able to address a number of different literatures and theories, including those focused on candidate strategy, presidential nominations, political communication, and whether or not campaigns matter.

Concerns over the way in which judicial campaigns are conducted have been voiced since the 1970s. Judicial elections are thought to have become rough and tumble contests, featuring increasing campaign expenditures and controversial campaign speech. With the widespread deregulation of judicial candidate campaign speech in the early 2000s, scholars have become increasingly concerned with how judicial candidates campaign. This dissertation examines the role of the media in judicial elections, campaign communication methods used by candidates, how candidates develop campaign messages, controversial campaign speech, the consequences of campaigning, and candidates’ attitudes toward judicial selection reform. Data gathered from a survey of judicial candidates who ran for election in 2012 (n = 490) and follow-up interviews with candidates (n = 35) were used to address the research questions posed by this investigation. Findings reveal a number of areas of concern with judicial elections beyond campaign speech, including lack of media coverage, lack of access to adequate communication channels, and concerns over external group involvement in judicial elections. Controversial speech is rare in judicial campaigns and few candidates favor strong speech regulations, which are viewed as barriers between the office and the public.

These (M.A.)--Tufts University, 2007. / Title from PDF title page. Available through UMI ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-74). Also issued in print.

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The Tea Party Movement (TPM) has emerged as an important player in United States politics by promoting fiscal conservatism, limited government, free market economics, and Constitutionalism. Candidates championing these TPM values have had some successful campaigns, particularly in the 2010 congressional primary and general elections. In doing so, TPM candidates focused their attacks on President Obama and his supporters in Congress, drawing attention to the increase in government spending and the growing budget deficit. The niche focus of the TPM combined with the strength of the U.S. two-party system and voters' partisan loyalties may limit the long-term effectiveness of the group. An analysis of campaign rhetoric from a sample of successful TPM House candidates highlights similarities in language used by the sampled TPM candidates in conveying TPM values. The discussion of similar economic and political climates of the Progressive (Bull Moose) Party and the Tea Party Movement eras provides for a historical comparison from which to predict the future of the TPM. In sum, this thesis suggests that the Tea Party Movement will likely expire with an improved economy and the conclusion of Barack Obama's presidency. / Master of Arts

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