PIE PO PIG POG, and the Networks That Tie Them Together

For a week from today, Hershey, ch. 1-2.  Cold calls and weekly writeups.

From the article:

American political parties are not quite what the American public perceives. They are made up of official structures at the federal, state, and local levels as well as candidates, special interest groups, and a harder to define “party blob” that coalesces under a unified banner to gain political power.

PIE -- party in the electorate

• Electoral change:  a cinematic map

The issues change over time ("Free Silver" in the 1890s)

Positions change.  Statehood for Puerto Rico

Identification and Identity

PO -- party organization

PIG -- party in government

POG -- partisan outside groups

In addition to fundraising groups, consider:

• Think Tanks
• Partisan Media
• "Influencers"

From the article:

And informal organizations have always been hard to square with formal party organizations. Are super PACs part of the party, or not? Are the Koch brothers part of the Republican organization, or just unusually enthusiastic fans with their own tools and agenda? We could ask the same question of a host of informal organizations that have built parties throughout American history

Factions within parties 

• Democrats
• Republicans