Thursday, December 10, 2015

2.10 Running for Congress

1. Miller did not know how to start a political campaign, and it could cause problems for him at home.
2. Wendy Gruel had name recognition from a past mayoral campaign, and she had many strong supporters.
3. Miller needed one million dollars in order to contend.
4. The money would be spent primarily on cable TV ads and direct mail.
5. Miller would need a media strategist, a direct mail consultant, a fundraising consultant, a campaign treasurer, an election lawyer, and other day-to-day campaign staff.
6. Consultants wanted him to play up his Jewish faith.
7. Likely voters were senior citizens 65+ because a quarter of registered voters would show up and they would probably not be millennials.
8. In the first few days, he raised $130,000.
9. The newspaper endorsement helped him raise identification 61% among Democrats and pushed him to fourth place, only three points behind third. It increased fundraising a huge amount and gave his campaign a new burst of energy.
10. He raised $517,000. He lost with 12% of the vote.

2.6 Trump on SNL

1. The NBC affiliates are required to offer rivals twelve minutes and five seconds of air time, the exact time that Trump received.
2. Trump's rivals can request an equal opportunity to appear on-air for free to deliver their message to voters.
3. NBC may not rerun the episode, because that doubles Trump's time. This gives the other candidates almost a half hour of free TV as well.
4. The equal time doctrine does not compel networks to cover candidates, but once one is covered others have the opportunity to be covered as well.
5. An unintended consequence of the equal time provision is that stations are hesitant to cover candidates because they do not want to waste time having to cover other candidates. These minor candidates could cause them to lose viewers.
6. Bona fide news events are debates and appearances on major night time television shows.
7. The FEC could handle the appearance like a campaign contribution or expenditure that would require contribution limits, disclosure requirements, and possible fines.

Friday, December 4, 2015

2.9 Gerrymandering Fun :)

1. It took me ten minutes and one second to complete all the puzzles.
2. There is a nonpartisan state agency in charge of redistricting.
3. The 13th district has 14% Republicans and 86% Democrats. The 14th district has 16% Republicans and 84% Democrats.
4. District 1 is the most even between Republicans and Democrats.
5. The 12th district of North Carolina is the least compact congressional district in the country, allowing Republicans to take more House seats.
6. Five of the thirteen house seats went to Democrats, but Obama won Pennsylvania by five points in 2012.
7. Democrats control District 3, 9, and 13 in Ohio.
8. Ohio's 8th district has 100% Republicans and 0% Democrats.
9. John Boehner represents Ohio's 8th district, so they need to make sure those voters would be voting Republican to support Boehner.
10. Pennsylvania was the most annoying to put back together.