Tuesday, October 23, 2012


Congress Review Sheet

Terms
Bicameralism

Incumbents

Reapportionment

Redistricting

Census

Gerrymandering

Congressional whip

17th Amendment

Pigeonhole

Discharge petition

Mark-ups

Filibuster

Cloture

Presidential Override

Pocket Veto

Logrolling

Reciprocity

Earmarks

Pork Barrel Spending

Germane Requirements

Legislative Riders

Caucus

CBO

Wesbury v. Sanders

Shaw v. Reno

Revenue

Expenditure

Debt

Deficit

Surplus

Fiscal Policy

Monetary Policy

Entitlements

Franking Privilege

Concepts
  1. Understand how a bill becomes a law.


  1. Understand the election requirements for a Congressman.


  1. Understand how rules are different between the House and the Senate.


  1. Understand which Committees are important in each house.


  1. Understand the advantages of incumbent Congressmen.


  1. Understand all the leadership roles and their different powers.


  1. Understand the processes and functions of a committee.


  1. Understand the differences between the four types of committees.


  1. Understand all the advantages the majority party holds.


  1. Understand and explain why iron triangles are considered subgovernments.


  1. What are the major components of the federal budgets revenues and expenditures?


  1. Understand and explain the budget approval process.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Wednesday, October 17, 2012


Campaign Project
(100 pt.  available)
Option 1: MAIN OPTION
You will select a candidate from a competitive Senate (or House race if you so choose) race.  You will research on your own campaigns (or ask me for one) and get approval from me for a specific candidate and campaign. 
10% of all projects will come from correctly “picking” elections.  5% for correctly picking the presidential election and 5% for getting your campaign right. 
Included in the presentation will be the following:
10% Biographical Information
30% Significant Policy Proposals/ Legislative Record
20% Major Donors and Interest Group Support
20% Polling Data through mid-October
10% Bibliography
Normally I’ve given resources but honestly, we’re in the age of google.  Find, cite and list all sources in a bibliography at the end of your powerpoint.
Option two:
Pick a campaign/candidate (even Presidential).  Create an ad that is 30-60 seconds long.   Ad can either be positive or negative, must have factual information included and involve some policy.  Production values will be the deciding factor in the grade (music, video quality, effective message).
Option 3-
If you have an idea for an alternative presentation (Powerpoint) on some governmental topic I am open to different suggestions and will work with you individually upon request to outline a rubric for your idea.  Projects of interest would be ones that give insight into issues that facts are very murky.
Jingle.
Campaign back and forth

Friday, October 5, 2012