National Parties

Thursday's class might be on Zoom (will keep you posted).  Be ready to do course evaluations at the end of class.  For that class, read these three short items:

Nicholas F. Jacobs, "What Liberals Get Wrong About ‘White Rural Rage’ — Almost Everything," Politico, April 5, 2004, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/05/white-rural-rage-myth-00150395

Jay Cost “The Humble Members of Society: Understanding Populism in the United States," AEI, June 2018, https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/The-Humble-Members-of-Society.pdf

Mara Gay, "How ‘The Squad’ and Like-Minded Progressives Have Changed Their Party," NYT, April 23, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/23/opinion/progressives-democratic-party-aoc.html?unlocked_article_code=1.mk0.OngW.3KsKs_ZM__gW&smid=url-share

Reform

One problem for top two and RCV:  most states do not have direct initiative.

Another problem is the public's low priority on election reform.

Peer review

Republicans on Trump:

Superdelegates may no longer vote on the first ballot.  And there has not been more than one ballot since 1952.

Platforms:  the term has a very specific meaning, not just "whatever a candidate says about issues."

1948:  Hubert Humphrey on civil rights:

1948:  The platform as target (start at 15:50):

1972 and a sign of ideological influence: "We must restructure the social, political and economic relationships throughout the entire society in order to ensure the equitable distribution of wealth and power."

Abortion platform language: GOP and Democrats

Foreign Influence Operations

Nazi ops

The 2016 GOP platform

Russia in the 2016 campaign

NRA and Russian Infiltration

RFK Jr. parrots Putin

So does MTG;

Chinese "spamouflage"