Texas Government

What party dominated Texas politics throughout most of the twentieth century

Democratic

The most important role for political parties in Texas elections is to

Offer a candidate a label by which he or she can identify with the voters.

State and local party organizations do all of the following EXCEPT

Litigate against unfavorable policies

Why might parties at the state level have less power then that at the national level?

Local issues are usually not ideological in nature.

The process of __________ occurs throughout our early years, when parents, religious leaders, teachers and other influence out partisan identifications.

Political Socialization

Texans are increasingly identifying themselves as

Independent

Which movement has had the largest impact on state legislative races in recent years?

The Tea party movement

Texas Democrats have been relegated to a minority status at the state level since

1994

After 1994, Democrats controlled the Texas house until __________, but republicans held every statewide office.

2002

The fastest-growing demographic group in Texas is __________, the majority of whom vote __________.

Hispanic; Democrats

The main role of the precinct conventions is to select delegates to the __________ and possibly to submit resolution that may eventually become part of the party platform.

Country convention

The Latino movement known as La Raza Unida occurred during the

1960’s

The Dixiecrats abandoned the national Democratic Party in the 1948 presidential election over the issue of

Civil rights

Which of the following third-party movement had the most success in winning elections in the post World War II era?

La Raza Unida

Texas requires parties that did not get 5 percent of the vote in a previous statewide race to do all of the following EXCEPT

Form third parties in the spring of the election years and complete the intent form.

The latest new party formed in the United States in an election year was

The Neutral Law Party

The Libertarian Party can be considered

Fiscal conservatives and social liberals

All the following are principals generally supported by the Tea Party movement EXCEPT

Increase immigration

The Occupy movement is a political movement interested in limiting the influence of __________ in America

Wall street and big business

The __________ movement was a movement during the 1950’s in which conservative Democrats in Texas supported Republican candidate Dwight Eisenhower for the presidency because many of those conservative Democrats believed that the national Democratic Party had become too liberal.

Shivercrat

The pattern beginning in the 1950’s, of Texans voting for a republican president but sticking with conservative Democrats for state office is called

Presidential Republicanism

Although the democratic party dominated state politics for much of the twentieth century, by the 1950’s it faced internal division between __________ and __________ Democrats.

Liberal; Conservative

By about the 1940’s, a split between liberal and conservatives developed in the Democratic Party that focused on

New Deal economic policies and civil rights measures

The Democratic Party in the state shrank to become the minority party when

The Reagan Revolution reached Texas

Conservative Democrats in Texas are also know as

Blue Dog Democrats

When intraparty disputes split members into different groups, these groups are referred to as

Factions

Today, the Texas Democratic party’s base is made up of all the following EXCEPT

Whites in East Texas

One of the Republican Parties greatest weakness in Texas is its lack of support among

Latinos

Which demographic group has the largest percentage share of voters in Texas

Whites

Latinos currently represent __________ percent of the Texas population

38

In Texas, primary elections are usually held in

March

Runoff primaries are generally held

The second Tuesday in April

The purpose of an __________ is to allow any registered voter to cast a ballot in either primary, but not both. There are no party restrictions.

Open Primary

What is the purpose of a primary election

To select a party’s candidate for the general election

The general election is held the first

Tuesday following the Monday in November of even numbered years.

Major state officials are elected in nonpresidential years because

It prevents popular presidential candidates from influencing he outcome of Texas races

In Texas, special elections are held for all of the following reasons EXCEPT to

Impeach a corrupt politician

Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn ran for governor as __________ in 2006

Independent

For an independent candidate to get on the ballot in Texas, which requirement must they meet

He or she must gain petition signatures from registered voters who did not previously participate in any political party primary election.

Which statement concerning women’s suffrage is correct

Women were permitted to vote in all elections in Texas with the ratification of the nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Texas was the first state in the South to

Ratify the women’s suffrage amendment

The poll tax disenfranchised

Poor people

The poll tax was made illegal in federal elections in __________ but remained legal in state elections in Texas until __________.

1964; 1971

The poll tax was made illegal in federal elections with the passing of the

Twenty-Fourth Amendment

What is the significance of the Supreme Court case Smith v. Allwright?

It announced that in primary elections states could not restrict voters on account of race

In __________ the U.S. Supreme court held that the state executive committees were acting as agents of the state and were discriminating in violation of the fourteenth amendment

Nixon v. Condon

The most important federal law involved in the expansion of the franchise in Texas was the

Voting Rights Act of 1972

The voting rights act has been renewed several times since 1965, and new provisions have been added since then. For example,

Bilingual ballots are now in certain areas where more than 5 percent of voters speak another language

Which of the following is NOT a requirement to vote in Texas

Property ownership

In what case did the Supreme Court rule that a key section of the voting rights act was unconstitutional, which affects a key provision requiring Texas to have its new districts approved by the U.S. department of justice

Shelby County v. Holder

The Motor Voter act of 1993

Allowed citizens to register to vote while applying for a drivers license

Approximately what percentage of the state’s voting age population is registered to vote

70 percent

Highly partisan legislation passed in 2011 now requires Texans to

Provide photo identification when voting

In Texas, the __________ Party usually experiences higher voter turnout than the __________ party

Republican; Democratic

The two most important factors that determine whether someone votes are

Income level and education

In which of the following elections is voter turnout the highest

Presidential elections

Early voting increases the polling period from 12 hours to

2 weeks

Early voting in Texas has been shown to produce __________ to voter turnout

A modest increase

The process of __________ involves recalculating how many congressional districts each state will receive based on the state’s population

Reapportionment

In Texas, __________ is/are responsible for redistricting

The legislature

Redistricting in Texas occurs

Every 10 years

The procedure by which certain states, sucha s Texas, are required to obtain approval every time they make changes to districts is called

Preclearance

Preclearance is required by the

Voting Rights Act of 1965

__________ is the traditional start of the general election campaign in Texas.

Labor Day

All of the following are modern-day tactics for preventing certain groups from voting EXCEPT

Canceling an election at the last minute

In Texas elections, the __________ plays the largest role ib the running campaigns.

Candidates

Campaigns attempt to reach voters through all of the following EXCEPT

Involvement in high-profile litigation

There is no questions that __________ is/are important for candidates success in Texas.

Money

Name recognition often gives __________ a distinct advantage ion Texas elections

Incumberment

The most costly item for most political campaigns is

Media advertising

__________ was the first Republican to hold the office of Texas governor sice the end of Reconstruction

William R. Clements

One effects of the high cost of campaigns in Texas is that

Candidates are often very wealthy individuals willing to use their own money in campaigns

The 8F croud was

A loose but influential group of Texas businessmen

Which of the following is NOT a description of an interest group?

It is typically active only at the national level of government

Which of the following is the farmers interest group that influenced the writing of the Texas Constitution of 1876

The Grange

What do interest groups want from policy makers

They want policy that is beneficial for their groups

Interest groups are often powerful in staes

Dominated by one party

The practice of combining several indivduals campaign contributions into one larger contribution from a group in order to increase the group’s impact is know as

Bundling

The Texas Medical Association is best describe as what kind of interest group

Professional

Which of the following is the bet example of public interest groups

Common Cause

The largest and most effective public employee interest group in Texas is mad up of

Teachers

Which of the following is NOT a common way for interest groups to gain access to politicans and policy makers

Chemicak company lobbyist

Which of the following groups have had notable political success by litigationg in Federal courts

Civil rights group

One important way for interest groups to gain access to those in Texas government is to employ __________ as lobbyists

Former legislatores and government officals

What was the problem Speaker Sam Rayburn identified with the "steak men" at the beginning of the twentieth century

They were legislators who would "sell" their votes on a bill for free steak dinners

Texas has __________ laws dealing with lobbying by former government officals

Weak

__________ was the former Texas Speaker of the House who was indicated for taking an illegal gift from a law firm that specialized in collecting delinquent taxes for local government

Restrictions on speaking fees

Scandals about the "streak men", Bo Piligrim, and Frib Lewis resulted in

The creation of a state ethic commission

Which interest is NOT represented in a list of the top interest groups in Texas

The enviroment

One major way for interest groups to promote the political interests of elected officials who support their viewpoints and oppose the interests of those who do NOT is engaged in

Campaign Contributions

Which is NOT a reason for forming a political action committee

Candidates are more likely to allow political action committee to purchase media access during election seasons

Which political action committee spend the least amount of money in Texas elections

Labor Unions

A private group that raises and distributes funds for use in election campaigns is called a

Political action committee

Battleground Texas is the latest attempt by the Democratic Party to do all of the folowing EXCEPT

Identify potential candidates

Texas trial lawyers frequently ally with

Consumer interest groups

When individuals or interest groups take out ads concerning a campaign issue but do not tie them directly to any particular candidate it is called

Issue advocacy

Most political action committee spending in Texas represents

Business

As in the U.S. Congress, most campaign contributiuons inTexas go to

incumbents

If an interest group "gets on the late train," it means

An interest group gives contributions after the election to a winning candidate the group has earlier opposed

Which U.S. Supreme Court case in 2009 created the oppurtunity for organizations that opposed powerful incumbents to NOT disclose their donors

Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission