US election glossary: A-Z guide to political jargon
Do you
know your beltway from your bellwether? And what are blue dogs and red states?
Use our guide below to help you navigate the election news.
A
Air war: The battle between candidates
to get as much advertising on television and radio as possible. In recent
years, online adverts, which are cheaper and can be more carefully targeted,
have grown increasingly important.
B
Balancing
the ticket: When the
presidential candidate chooses a vice-presidential candidate whose qualities
balance out the nominee's perceived weaknesses.
So for
example, in 2008, Barack Obama, seen as young and relatively
inexperienced, selected veteran Senator Joe Biden as his running mate.
Ballot
initiative: A
procedure allowed in a number of states under which citizens are able to
propose a change in the law.
If the
initiative's backers can gather enough signatures, the proposed change is put
to the voters in a referendum. If it is approved by the voters it then becomes
law.
Ballot
initiatives are sometimes referred to as ballot measures or propositions.
Battleground
state: A large
state with an electorate split relatively evenly between Democrats and
Republicans, so named because candidates spend a disproportionate amount of
time and money campaigning there.
Traditional
battleground states include Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, which have 29, 18
and 20 electoral votes respectively.
Bellwether
state: A state
that historically tends to vote for the winning candidate, perhaps because it
is, demographically, a microcosm of the country as a whole.
A good
example is Ohio, which has not backed a losing presidential candidate since
1960. In fact, no Republican has ever won the White House without the state.
The term
derives from the name for a sheep which shepherds would fit with a bell. By
listening out for this sheep, the bellwether, shepherds were able to locate the
position of the entire flock.
Beltway: An American term for the
orbital highway or ring-road that often surrounds major cities. In political
reporting, the term refers to business undertaken inside the Interstate 495
highway surrounding Washington DC.
A beltway
issue is a political issue or debate considered to be of importance only to the
political and media class and of little interest to the general public. Those
considered to have a beltway mentality are seen as being out of touch with the
ordinary voters.
Benghazi: Islamic militants attacked a US
diplomatic compound in 2012 in the Libyan city of Benghazi and killed four
Americans, including ambassador Chris Stevens, while Mrs Clinton was secretary
of state. The incident has become a hot political issue with Republicans
blaming Mrs Clinton for the loss of life.
Bernie
Bros: A
pejorative term for (usually male) supporters of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders
who attacked Hillary Clinton and her supporters during the primary race. The
abuse was often on social media and commonly misogynistic.
Bill of
rights: The
collective term for the first 10 amendments to the US constitution establishing
the fundamental rights of individual citizens.
The
amendments act as a mutually reinforcing set of rights and limit the powers of
federal and state governments. Acts of Congress or laws ruled to be in conflict
with these rights are deemed unconstitutional and may be declared void by the
US Supreme Court.
The
framers of the US constitution added the Bill of Rights in part because few
individual rights were specified in the main body of the constitution.
Blue
state: A state
where people tend to vote for the Democratic Party.
Bundler: A person who gathers
("bundles") campaign contributions to a candidate from his or her
network of friends and business associates.
Bundlers,
who are often wealthy and well-connected, play a crucial role in contemporary
campaign finance.
Individuals
are barred by federal law from donating more than $2,500 (£1,603) per election
to a candidate. But they can increase their influence by providing to the
candidate cheques they have solicited from their associates and acquaintances.
The elite
bundlers for President George W Bush's 2000 and 2004 campaigns were dubbed
Rangers and Pioneers, a mark of their status.
C
Capitol: The seat of Congress in Washington
DC.
Constructed
largely of white marble, it is home to both the Senate and House of
Representatives.
The steps
of the Capitol building are traditionally the stage for the inauguration of
presidents on the 20 January following an election year.
Caucus: A meeting of party members and
activists at which they choose which candidate to back for the party
nomination.
In
procedures that vary by state and party, participants in presidential caucuses
meet in their local communities to choose which candidates they want to
support.
The
caucuses allocate delegates based on the level of that support. The results are
then tallied state-wide, and the candidate with the most delegates is said to
win the state.
Critics of
the caucus system argue that its laborious nature tends to mean it is dominated
by political activists whose preferences may not reflect those of the broader
electorate.
Just under
a dozen states use the system - the number is different according to party.
The most
important party caucuses in recent years have been in Iowa.
In 2008,
Mr Obama's victory in the Iowa caucuses - he won the most delegates - cemented
his status as a serious contender for the Democratic nomination. It helped show
Democrats elsewhere in the country that he could secure backing from white
rural voters.
Citizens
United: A 2010
Supreme Court ruling that overturned restrictions on corporate spending in
political campaigns.
In the 5-4
decision, the court equated corporations' right to spend money to influence an
election with the right to free speech held by individuals under the First
Amendment to the US constitution.
It
overturned a ban on corporate and union spending on electioneering
communications - that is, so-called issue ads broadcast within 60 days of a
general election (or 30 days for primary elections) which explicitly mention
the name of a candidate.
It means
unions and corporations will be able to directly advertise, right up until
election day, as long as they haven't co-ordinated their advertisements with a
candidate's campaign.
The
Clinton Foundation: An
international charitable organisation founded in 1997, originally to establish
the Bill Clinton presidential library.
It has 11
major programmes focusing on agriculture in Africa, combating childhood
obesity, economic development in South America, earthquake relief in Haiti,
reducing the cost of Aids drugs and mitigating climate change.
It has
become a focus for Republican critics who say that donors to the charity were
rewarded with favours from Mrs Clinton while she was secretary of state. But
there is no evidence of donors benefiting from the state department.
Commander
in chief: The
constitutional role granted to the president as head of the United States'
armed forces.
Congress: The legislative branch of the
US government as prescribed in Article I of the US constitution.
It is made
up of two houses - the 435-member House of Representatives and 100-member
Senate - each of which officially has equal power, if not prestige.
A
congressional period lasts two years (or sessions) and begins at noon on 3
January of odd-numbered years.
As well as
drafting and implementing laws, Congress can also:
-
Investigate matters of public concern
- Oversee
federal agencies and their programmes
- Declare
war
- Approve
and ratify treaties
- Regulate
commerce
- Increase
and decrease taxes
- Print
and appropriate money
-
Confirm/approve judicial and federal appointments and nominations
- Impeach
federal officials including the president and vice-president
- Override
presidential vetoes based on a two-thirds majority in each chamber.
Congressman/woman:
A member
of the House of Representatives, typically. The term can refer to a member of
the Senate.
Constitution
of the United States: The
fundamental and founding law of the US federal system of government.
The US
constitution and its 27 amendments establish the principal organs of
government, their roles, and the basic rights of citizens.
It is
upheld as the supreme law of the land, meaning all federal and state laws,
executive actions and judicial decisions must be consistent with it.
The US
constitution was ratified in 1788, and was most recently amended in 1992. It is
the oldest written national constitution in effect.
D
Delegates:
The party
members whose votes at the national convention officially determine the two
parties' presidential candidates.
Most of
the delegates at the convention are obligated to vote for the candidate chosen
in primary elections or caucuses in their home state. They are referred to as
pledged or elected delegates. Some delegates, however, are unpledged and are
able to vote for any candidate at the convention.
In the
Democratic Party, these unpledged delegates are called super-delegates. They
include senior members of the party hierarchy and rank-and-file members elected
to the Democratic National Committee, the party's governing body.
Donkey,
Democratic: The donkey
has become the established - although unofficial - political symbol for the
Democratic Party. Democratic Party historians say the symbol was first used
during Andrew Jackson's presidential campaign in 1828.
Labelled a
jackass by his opponents, he adopted the donkey for his campaign posters and it
stuck with him.
New York
cartoonist Thomas Nast, a radical Republican, later also used the donkey to
represent a group of northern anti-civil war Democrats, and more generally as a
symbol for pro-Democrat editors and newspapers.
By the end
of the 19th Century, the symbol was firmly established.
E
Electoral
College: The
collective term for the 538 electors who officially elect the president and
vice-president of the United States.
Presidential
candidates require a majority of 270 college votes to win the presidency. The
number of electors for each state is equal to the combined total of its
senators and representatives in Congress.
The
college system was conceived before the existence of political parties and was
designed to allow the electors to act as independent voters. Electors are now
expected to follow the wishes of the majority of voters in each state.
However,
there have been a number of cases in recent elections where at least one
elector has voted for a candidate other than the one they were pledged to. Two
states, Nebraska and Maine, now divide their electors in proportion to the
popular vote given to each candidate.
Elephant,
Republican: The
traditional symbol for the Republican Party, believed first to have been used
in that context by an Illinois newspaper during Abraham Lincoln's 1860
election.
Thomas
Nast popularised the image in a cartoon in a 1874 edition of Harper's Weekly,
as pro-Democrat newspapers were accusing the Republican president of Caesarism
for allegedly seeking a third term in office.
Emails
(Clinton's...): While she
was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, Hillary Clinton relied on a privately
hosted email server that handled all her personal and professional electronic
correspondence.
The system
became the centre of controversy in 2015 following confirmation of its
existence and was the subject of hearings in Congress, public-interest lawsuits
and an FBI criminal investigation that resulted in no charges being filed.
Around
50,000 of emails identified as work-related by Mrs Clinton's staff have been
made public.
Correspondence
deemed personal were permanently deleted, although the FBI has recovered around
17,000 emails from Mrs Clinton's servers, some of which its says are in the
public domain.
F
Federal
Election Commission (FEC): In
1975, Congress created the Federal Election Commission as an independent
regulatory agency to administer and enforce federal election law.
The FEC
discloses campaign finance information, enforces the law and oversees the
public funding of presidential elections. By law, no more than three of the six
members of the commission can be members of the same political party.
During an
election period, the commission collects and publishes lists of contributions
to all the official candidates, as well as their campaign spending.
Federal
Election Campaign Act (FECA): First
implemented in 1971, the Federal Election Campaign Act is a US federal law that
provides for the disclosure of financial contributions to federal campaigns and
regulates contributions.
In 1974,
the law was toughened and new amendments established strict disclosure
requirements for campaign donations, set specific limits for those donations,
instituted public financing of presidential elections, and established the
Federal Election Commission (FEC) to govern the whole process.
Subsequently,
many of the restrictions on campaign spending and contributions have been pared
back in a series of Supreme Court decisions.
Filibuster:
A
parliamentary technique of delaying a vote to pass legislation by giving a long
speech.
In the
Senate, it takes 60 votes to defeat a filibuster by ending debate on a bill.
In current
practice, the minority party needs only to threaten a filibuster to block
legislation, because the majority party typically holds less than the 60 votes
needed to end debate on a bill and move to a final vote.
One of the
most infamous uses of the filibuster came in 1957, when South Carolina Democrat
Strom Thurmond gave a 24-hour tirade against a piece of civil rights
legislation, in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to block it.
Founding
fathers: An
imprecise term used most often to describe those involved in drafting the
Declaration of Independence from Britain in 1776 and the framing and adoption
of the constitution at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787.
The term
is sometimes also used to include influential figures in the struggle for
independence and those who fought the Revolutionary War.
Front-loading:
The
tendency, which has become more marked in recent years, for states to move
their primaries and caucuses forward, in an attempt to be among the first
states holding a nominating contest.
State
authorities believe that coming at the front of the queue increases their
influence on the nomination process. However, if too many states hold their
contests in a short space of time, critics argue, candidates are unable to
connect with voters in each individual state.
A
side-effect is that the process starts earlier in the year and is drawn out
over a longer period.
G
Gaffe: A verbal error or slip-up made
by a politician or other political figure. Or in a famous formulation by
American journalist Michael Kinsley, a gaffe is when a politician accidentally
says something he or she really means but that was better left unsaid.
Gerrymandering:
The
practice of drawing political constituency maps to increase a particular
candidate's or party's advantage in a subsequent election.
In its
rawest form, gerrymandering is when politicians choose their voters, rather
than voters choosing their politicians.
In the US,
political district maps are typically redrawn once a decade following the
completion of the census.
The party
in power in a state government uses sophisticated mapping and statistical data
to redraw the map to ensure its candidates have the best chance of success,
usually by diluting the electoral strength of the opposition party's
supporters.
One
mechanism might involve splitting a city into two or more House districts, each
of which is then dominated by suburban voters.
Governor: The elected official of a state
who is responsible for the effective and efficient workings of its government.
A
governor's term of office lasts for four years. The number of times a governor
can be re-elected varies from state to state.
Grand Old
Party (GOP): The
traditional nickname for the Republican Party widely used in American political
reporting.
The
party's official history traces the term back to the late 19th Century citing
an article in the Boston Post headlined: The GOP Doomed.
The party
website suggests the term may have evolved from the term used to refer to
British Prime Minister William Gladstone - the Grand Old Man.
In Richard
Nixon's 1964 presidential campaign, the GOP was used briefly as the basis for
the slogan the "Go-Party", but by the late 1970s it had become firmly
associated with the term Grand Old Party.
H
Hanging
chad: A chad is
the small piece of waste paper or card created when a hole is punched in a
ballot.
Chads
became famous in the 2000 presidential election, when the results in Florida
were so close that a recount was necessary and electoral officials were forced
to examine the ballot papers to determine voters' intentions.
Some
voters had punched their preferences, but the chad had not fully separated from
the ballot (a hanging chad).
In other
cases, an indentation had been made in the ballot but it had not been punched
through (a pregnant or dimpled chad).
Hard
money: Money
contributed by an individual directly to a particular campaign.
Individuals
can currently contribute $2,500 to a candidate's primary campaign, and an
additional $2,500 to a candidate's general election campaign. They can make
these donations to multiple candidates.
The first
$250 an individual donates to a candidate's primary campaign can be matched
dollar-for-dollar from federal matching funds.
Limits on
state-wide elections vary according to state laws.
The House
of Representatives: The House
is the larger of the two houses of Congress which are the law-making branches
of government.
The 435
members of the House - generally known as Congressmen and Congresswomen - serve
two-year terms.
The
presiding member, the speaker of the house, is elected by a majority vote of
members of the House at the beginning of each new Congress. In practice, this
is the leader of the party holding the majority.
House
members each represent approximately half-a-million citizens in their
districts. The number of districts for each state is determined each decade by
a proportional allocation based on the federal census.
House Majority
Leader: The House
Majority Leader is the second most powerful member of the majority party in the
House of Representatives.
Unlike the
speaker, he or she has no responsibility for the House as a whole, and focuses
purely on advancing the interests of his or her party - for example, by
organising members to support the party's policy agenda.
House
Minority Leader: The leader
of the minority party in the House of Representatives.
He or she
acts as a spokesperson for the minority party's policy position and organises
its legislative strategy.
In
practice, the minority leader has very little legislative influence, because
the House rules essentially allow the majority party to pass bills
unilaterally.
I
Inauguration:
The
ceremony that marks the start of the new president's term of office. Under the
US constitution, this happens on 20 January of the year following the election.
Independent:
Registered
voters who have not declared a party affiliation.
Because
most voters registered for a particular party will vote for that party's
candidate, general election campaigns have tended to focus on winning over
these groups.
Nationwide
about a third of all voters consider themselves independent, but some key
states have a higher proportion of independent voters than others. New
Hampshire, for example, traditionally has a large number of independents and as
a result has a reputation for producing unexpected results during its primary
elections.
L
Libertarian: A voter whose concerns are
driven by belief in a small government, fierce support for fiscal conservative
ideas and notions of individual liberty.
US
libertarians tend to vote Republican, attracted to the party's advocacy for
lower taxes and government spending and opposition to regulation of business
and to the welfare state.
But many
libertarians disagree with the party's stances on social issues and the war on
drugs.
For
example, while opposition to same-sex marriage is a key plank in the national
Republican Party platform, staunch libertarian voters might argue the
government has no business restricting two individuals' right to enter into a
marriage compact.
In 2008
and 2012, libertarians have backed Ron Paul's candidacy for the Republican
nomination.
Lobbyist: A person hired to represent the
interests of a company, industry, political cause or foreign government in the
Congress, regulatory agencies or other parts of the US government.
Effective
lobbyists are very well-connected and are often former members of Congress or
the Congressional staff or had other high-level jobs in the US government.
On the
campaign trail, cosy connections with lobbyists - or worse, a background
advocating for paid clients - can be a liability.
In the
2012 race, Newt Gingrich had to defend himself against allegations he took
millions of dollars over the past decade to advocate on behalf of healthcare
companies and a government-sponsored mortgage company.
M
McCain-Feingold:
A 2002
campaign finance reform law named after its main sponsors, Republican Senator
John McCain of Arizona and Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold.
The law
was designed to limit the system of fundraising and corporate spending in
federal election campaigns that existed outside the highly regulated
infrastructure of public funding and hard money contributions to political
candidates.
Much of
the law was subsequently overturned by the US Supreme Court, which found
restrictions on corporate spending in elections to be an unconstitutional
infringement on freedom of speech.
Among the
parts that remain intact are a ban on unlimited soft money donations to
national political parties.
Medicaid: A health insurance programme
for the poor and some disabled people that is funded jointly by the states and
the federal government and administered at the state level.
It is up
to states to determine matters of coverage, eligibility and the administration
of the programme, but they must conform to broad federal guidelines.
Medicare: The national health insurance
programme designed to help protect people aged 65 and over from the high costs
of healthcare.
It also
provides coverage for patients with permanent kidney failure and people with
certain disabilities.
N
National
convention: The party
assembly held every four years at which state delegates from across the country
gather to nominate the party's candidates for president and vice-president.
The
nominees are typically chosen by party voters in primary elections and caucuses
well ahead of the conventions, but the formal convention processes remain in
place in case the decision over the party's candidate has to be brokered by the
various party leaders.
In 1924, a
bitterly divided Democratic Party took 103 ballots to decide on their
presidential candidate.
O
Oval
Office: The
office traditionally occupied by the president in the West Wing of the White
House.
The term
is often used to describe the presidency itself, and the physical proximity of
aides to the Oval Office is seen as reflecting the extent of their influence.
In
addition to the Oval Office, the president keeps a private study next door.
P
Political
Action Committee (Pac): An
organisation formed to promote its members' views on selected issues, usually
by raising money that is used to fund candidates who support the group's
position.
Pacs
monitor candidates' voting records and question them on their beliefs on issues
of interest to their membership.
Because
federal law restricts the amount of money an individual, corporation or union
can give to candidates, Pacs have become an important way of funnelling large
funds into the political process and influencing elections.
Pork
barrel politics: The
appropriation of government spending - or pork - pursued by a lawmaker for
projects that benefit his or her constituents or campaign contributors.
Primary: A state-level election held to
nominate a party's candidate for office. Regulations governing them and the
dates on which they are held vary from state to state.
In some
states, voters are restricted to choosing candidates only from the party for
which they have registered support; however 29 states permit open primaries in
which a voter may opt to back a candidate regardless of their nominal
affiliation. In this case, strategic voting may take place with, for example,
Republicans crossing over to back the perceived weaker Democratic candidate.
Primaries
first emerged as a result of the so-called progressive movement of the early
20th Century, which argued that leaving the nomination process purely to party
bosses was inherently undemocratic.
Pro-choice:
The term
used for those who support a woman's right to choose abortion if she so wishes.
Most
pro-choice politicians will usually seek to avoid the emotive issue of abortion
itself, following instead the libertarian line that government has no place
interfering in what should be a private decision.
The
Democratic Party has been broadly supportive of the pro-choice movement.
President Bill Clinton summed up his party's stance by saying abortions should
be "safe, legal and rare".
Pro-life: The term used to describe
politicians and pressure groups opposed to abortion or allowing women to opt
for abortion.
Some
American advocates of the pro-life position believe abortion should only be
allowed in cases where a pregnancy results from rape or incest. Others believe
that abortion should be ruled out altogether.
The 1973
Roe v Wade decision by the US Supreme Court, which in effect legalised abortion
in the US, is viewed by pro-life supporters as in contravention of the
fundamental rights of the unborn child.
A more
recent decision, Planned Parenthood v Casey in 1992, allowed states to limit
access to abortion so long as they do not place an "undue burden".
Since
then, conservative states have placed dramatic restrictions on abortion - for
example, by enacting waiting periods between an initial consultation with the
provider and the actual procedure, or by requiring doctors to inform pregnant
women about the appearance and characteristics of the foetus.
Public
funding: Money
supplied to campaigns from government coffers and administered by the Federal
Election Commission.
This
includes primary election matching funds, which match the money candidates have
raised privately, and a grant for the general election, and grants to fund the
major parties' conventions.
Presidential
candidates who accept public funding must agree to spending limits. In the
general election, candidates who accept public funds may not raise private
money in addition to the grant, nor can they spend more than the grant (though
some legal and accounting expenses and some of candidates' personal cash is
exempt).
In 2008,
Mr Obama became the first candidate to decline public funds for the general
election because he calculated he could raise more on his own and did not want
to be held to a $84.1m spending limit - including what he had already raised
privately. Also, he feared attack from well-funded independent conservative
groups not subject to spending limits.
To qualify
for primary election matching funds, candidates need to raise at least $100,000
in individual donations, including at least $5,000 from 20 different states.
Candidates
who fail to receive at least 10% of the popular vote in two successive primary
elections lose their eligibility for continued payments, unless and until they
receive at least 20% of the vote in a later primary.
The two
major parties - the Democrats and Republicans - are automatically entitled to a
public grant to pay for the cost of their national conventions. Minor parties
are also entitled to a smaller subsidy in proportion to the vote they received.
New parties are not eligible.
Purple
state: Another
term for a swing state. A state which could vote Democratic (blue) or
Republican (red).
Push
polling: The
controversial practice where voters are contacted over the telephone by people
who are ostensibly taking a poll, but who talk up their own candidate and
rubbish opponents.
R
Reagan
Democrat: Working-class
Democratic voter who defected from the party to vote for Republican candidate
Ronald Reagan in the 1980 and 1984 presidential elections.
The term
is also used these days to denote moderate Democrats who are more conservative
than other Democrats on issues such as national security or immigration.
Red state:
A state
where people tend to vote for the Republican Party.
Roe v
Wade: The
landmark 1973 Supreme Court judgement that prohibited states from banning
abortion.
The
court's ruling was based on the concept that a woman's right to terminate her
pregnancy came under the freedom of personal choice in family matters as
protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.
The
decision remains one of the most controversial ever made by the Supreme Court.
While
states are prohibited from barring abortion outright, they have been allowed
under subsequent Supreme Court rulings to restrict certain types of abortion
and place often onerous requirements on doctors who provide abortion and women
seeking them.
Running
mate: The
presidential nominee's candidate for the vice-presidency.
S
Second
Amendment: The
so-called right to bear arms amendment to the US constitution, ratified in 1791.
The text
reads: "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the protection of a
free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be
infringed."
The
wording is open to interpretation and as a result it has become the focus of
fierce debate between supporters and opponents of gun control.
Gun
control opponents such as the National Rifle Association argue that the
amendment gives Americans the constitutional right to bear arms free from any
form of government control. But advocates of gun control argue the amendment
was only written to guarantee the right to bear arms as part of a collective
militia, and say states and municipalities should be able to restrict gun
ownership and use.
Senate: The upper house of Congress,
although members of the other house - the House of Representatives -
traditionally regard it as an equal body.
The Senate
has 100 elected members, two from each state, serving six-year terms with
one-third of the seats coming up for election every two years. The vice-president
serves as the presiding officer over the Senate, although he or she does not
serve on any committees and is restricted to voting only in the event of a tie.
Senate
Majority Leader: The leader
of the majority party in the Senate, and the most powerful member of the upper
house of Congress.
He or she
controls the daily legislative programme and decides on the time allowed for
debates.
Senate
Minority Leader: The leader
of the minority party in the Senate.
He or she
acts as a figurehead for the minority party in the Senate, articulating its
policy positions and attempting to deliver its legislative priorities.
Senator: Member of the Senate, the upper
house of Congress. Each US state has two (a junior and a senior senator,
distinguished by length of service).
Before
Barack Obama, the last time a senator was directly elected to the White House
was in 1960, when John F Kennedy won the presidency.
Speaker of
the House: The leader
of the majority party in the House of Representatives - not to be confused with
the House Majority Leader.
The House
Speaker has a dual role as both the leader of his or her party in the House,
and as the presiding officer in the chamber, with responsibility for
controlling debate and setting the legislative agenda.
Under the
terms of the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, the speaker is the second in
line to the presidency after the vice-president.
Stump
speech: A
candidate's routine speech outlining his or her core campaign message.
The speech
can be tailored to suit specific audiences and may evolve over the course of
the campaign.
The phrase
stems from the days when candidates would make speeches standing on tree
stumps. Campaigning politicians are still said to be on the stump.
Supermajority:
The vote
margin of two-thirds or three-quarters of the quorum, as opposed to a simple
majority of 50% plus one.
For
example, for an amendment to be added to the US constitution, it must be
approved by a supermajority of two-thirds in both houses of Congress and the
legislatures of three fourths of the states.
In the
Senate, a supermajority of 60% is required to end a debate on a bill. In recent
years, the minority party has forced the senate to require a supermajority to
pass almost all substantive legislation, contributing to political gridlock in
Washington.
This
gridlock is expected to be an issue in the 2012 presidential campaign, with Mr
Obama and the Democrats accusing Republicans of using parliamentary manoeuvres
to obstruct progress.
SuperPac: A category of independent
political action group established by the Citizens United Supreme Court
decision that is allowed to accept and spend unlimited amounts of corporate,
individual or union cash on behalf of a candidate, often without disclosing its
sources.
SuperPacs
are barred from co-ordinating their spending - usually on advertising - with
the candidates they support, but some say they in essence operate as shadow
campaign committees. See entries on Citizens United and soft money.
Super
Tuesday: The day in
the campaign calendar, usually in February or early March of an election year,
when a large number of states hold primary elections.
The first
Super Tuesday occurred in the 1988 campaign, when southern state party
officials hoped that by holding their votes on the same day they would increase
the influence of the South and downplays the importance of the earlier New
Hampshire primaries and Iowa caucuses.
Since then
a number of other states have chosen to hold their primaries on the same day,
including California.
Swing
states: States in
which the electorate is relatively evenly split between Republicans and
Democrats, making them targets for aggressive campaigning by both sides.
In recent
elections, the most important swing states were Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Those have a high number of electoral votes, making them prime battlegrounds
during the election.
The list
of swing states changes with their demographics.
In the
2008 election, for instance, historically Republican Virginia and North
Carolina voted for Barack Obama, anticipating their status as hard-fought swing
states in 2012.
Others
that were close in previous elections, like Iowa and New Mexico, appear to be
solidly Democratic (see Battleground State).
T
Tea Party:
A populist
conservative movement known for its uncompromising stance on fiscal issues, its
disdain for Mr Obama, and the stridency of its rhetoric.
The Tea
Party movement arose in spring 2009 in opposition to Mr Obama's agenda, in
particular his struggle to reform the US healthcare system.
Its
primary demands are drastic cuts in government spending and taxes.
The
movement's record of political success has been mixed.
Tea Party
activists, supported with funding and organising assistance from well-heeled
conservative backers, elected a class of fiscal conservative freshmen
Republicans to the House of Representatives in 2010.
But their
insistence on ideological purity has yielded some Republican candidates who are
unpalatable to the broader electorate.
And
Democrats blame the Tea Party movement for much of the Republican Party's
inability and unwillingness to compromise on tax increases they say are needed
to reduce the US budget deficit.
It is
named after a series of colonial-era protests in which American revolutionaries
dumped British tea into the sea to protest against a tea tax.
Third-party
candidate: A
candidate who does not belong to one of the two main US political parties, the
Republicans or the Democrats.
Examples
of third-party candidates who are running in 2016 are Libertarian Gary Johnson
and Green Party's Jill Stein.
No
third-party candidate has ever won the presidency, but may have influenced the
result. In 1992, it's unclear if Ross Perot took votes away from incumbent
George HW Bush and helped Bill Clinton to victory. In 2000, Green Party
candidate Ralph Nader is believed to have siphoned votes from Democrat Al Gore.
Ticket: Usually preceded by the name of
a party, the "ticket" refers to the candidates running together.
Candidates for the presidency and vice presidency run on the same
"ticket".
Trump
University: A higher
education institution founded by Donald Trump and two associates specialising
in real-estate and asset-management education that operated from 2005 to 2010.
It has been the subject of a New York state investigations for illegal business
practices and two lawsuits alleging fraud. The legal proceedings are ongoing.
V
Vice-President:
The
presiding officer of the US Senate and the person who assumes the office of the
president in the event of the resignation, removal, incapacitation or death of
the incumbent president.
The
vice-president only casts a vote in the Senate in the event of a tie.
Although
those are the only duties the US constitution enumerates for the office, the
vice-president can amass significant informal power in his capacity as an
adviser to the president.
Early
vice-presidents had little else in the way of official responsibilities.
In 1885
Woodrow Wilson, who would later become president, commented that there was
"little to be said about the vice-president... His importance consists in
the fact that he may cease to be vice-president".
In recent
years, though, vice-presidents have taken on an increasingly prominent role
managing a range of high-profile foreign and domestic policy programmes.
Dick
Cheney, who served under George W Bush, is considered the most powerful
vice-president in US history.
W
Wedge
issue: An issue
on which a candidate campaigns in order to divide factions within his
opponent's supporter base.
For
example, in 2004 Republicans proposed same-sex marriage bans in more than a
dozen states and Republican candidates loudly trumpeted their support.
The
subsequent referenda were aimed at attracting voters who support the Democrats
on most economic issues but who feel strongly about social issues.
Conversely,
Democrats might highlight their more liberal position on abortion, in an
attempt to win over pro-choice Republicans.
Wonk:
A
political figure or pundit seen as having a studied and detailed command of
public policy.
