Glossary

What does a bundler bundle? Is the electoral college taking applications? Is there a legitimate reason why people talk so much about "whips" in politics?

Welcome to the wonderful world of confusing political jargon. Scroll down for info on elections, campaigns and the federal government. This list will only grow, so let us know if there's something you want covered that's not here already. You're minutes away from supplementing your "School House Rock" knowledge of the political process.

Elections

Here's what you need to know about Election Day, including the fact that there are many Election Days in 2012. To find out about what your state does specifically, go to CJP's "Are You Ready to Vote" page and click on your state. No two states are alike and some laws have changed lately, so check it out.

Now back to Election Day:

Absentee Voting

Casting a vote before election day with a form you mail in. Will you be out of town or busy on election day? You may be able to vote absentee. Check out your state for the rules.

Ballot initiative

An issue to be decided by popular vote, usually during general elections. These can be mundane, but important, like raising the sales tax a penny to pay for sewer repairs, or controversial, but important, like deciding to ban or legalize gay marriage. They are almost always confusing, so take the time to read them on your Secretary of State's website BEFORE you go to vote.

Presidential Caucus

The OTHER way states, including Iowa, pick their presidential nominees. Caucuses are like a debate club meeting. Everybody in the club gets together to meet and talk about who they want to be president. After everybody talks about their favorite, they vote for their choice. Does your state have a primary or caucus? CJP's "Are You Ready to Vote" page will tell you.

Early Voting

When you physically go to a polling place to vote in person before Election Day. Some states offer early voting, others do not.

Electoral College

Sit down and get comfortable, and then read all about the Electoral College from the people who really know about it—the National Archives Administration. In a nut shell, the Electoral College chooses the president. We're sorry to be the ones to tell you, the president is not chosen by the people; the president is chosen by members of the Electoral College. The good news is that the people do tell the Electoral College who they WANT to be president when they vote in their primaries and caucuses, and it usually works out to be the same person. One notable exception came in 2000 when George Bush won the Electoral College and Al Gore won the popular vote. Perfectly legal and exactly what the framers of the Constitution had in mind when they compromised between having the people choose the president (too low-brow?) and Congress pick the president (too scary).

Excuse vs. no-excuse early and absentee voting

Some states don't care why you can't vote on Election Day, but others make you swear you have a valid excuse, like being bed-ridden or traveling for work or attending school out of state. Be sure to check your state out before you head off to Hawaii for surfing lessons.

Off-year elections

2000, 2004, 2008—those are all presidential election years, Summer Olympic years and leap years. An election in any other year is called an "off-year" election. 2011 is an off-year.

Polling Station

A school, church or other local place in your neighborhood where elections are held on voting day. You will get a notice in the mail reminding you of where your polling station is located. If you don't, contact your Secretary of State's office or the Board of Elections.

Primary Election

There are two kinds of primaries in 2012, so bear with us.

• The Presidential Preference Primary— The election when you make your choice for president for either the Republicans or Democrats. Some states have caucuses instead.
  • You can only vote in one party's primary at a time.
  • States with "open primaries" let you vote in either primary, not matter your party affiliation.
  • States with "closed primaries" allow only registered Republicans to vote in the Republican primary and only registered Democrats to vote in the Democratic primary.
• Main primary/ Congressional primary/ State primary— These all refer to the same thing— the other primary election that states will have in 2012 to pick the rest of their parties' nominees for offices like governor, senator, school board member, dog catcher, etc. Because so many states have moved their presidential primaries to be earlier in the year, you may find yourself voting in two primary elections in 2012. Perfectly normal. The same Open/ Closed rules above apply for these primaries, except for a few states that have all candidates on the same primary ballot. Check your state out for details.

Prop

When you hear about a "prop" followed by a number, it's a state proposition or ballot initiative, like California's "Prop 187."

Provisional ballot

If you are told that you are not registered to vote, and you think you are, you can always ask to cast a provisional ballot. You will vote as normal, and the Secretary of State's office will later check to make sure you are actually registered. If everything is square, then your vote gets counted.

Registration

In every state except North Dakota, you have to be registered with your state or county before you can vote. Some states make you register at least 30 days in advance, others let you register on the same day you vote. You only have to register once when you move to a state, but most states make you re-register if you move or change your name. Check yours to make sure. How do you know if and where you're officially registered? Contact your election officials or go to this great page at the National Association of Secretaries of State.

Registration Deadline

The last possible day to register to vote. Some states want your application post-marked that day, others want you registered that day. Others let you register at the polling station. Check your state on CJP's "Are You Ready to Vote" page.

Secretary of State/ Board of Elections

These are the state agencies that run elections in your state.

Campaigns

The Base

The Base- The core group of voters for either party (conservatives for the Republicans and liberals for the Democrats). It's critical for candidates to motivate their base voters with issues they care about in order to win election.

Bundler

A donor to a political campaign who volunteers to coordinate the donations of other people and thus "bundle" tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. George W. Bush's campaign pioneered the use of bundlers, whom they called "Rangers," and President Obama has perfected the bundling of his own bundlers for the 2012 cycle. Accusations of fraud in bundling have become common, with some donors reimbursing people for giving donations in their own names.

Campaign Finance Reform

Any effort to take the money out of politics. Good luck.

Dialing for Dollars

The act of fundraising for a political candidate. This typically involves a candidate getting a list of potential donors' phone numbers from a staff member, calling the donor, shooting the breeze for a minute or two, and then asking for campaign contributions. It's not pretty.

DSCC

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Based in Washington, the DSCC is like the locker room for all Democratic nominees for U.S. Senate every two years. Sen. Patty Murray is the chair this year, meaning she helps recruit candidates to run, coordinate their "message" and raise money for their races.

DCCC

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, known as the "D-Triple-C," does for the Democrats' House of Representatives candidates what the DSCC does for the Senate candidates. Rep. Steve Israel manned up to the job this year after the DCCC saw more than 60 losses in the 2010 elections.

Field Operations

Yards signs, bumper stickers, rallies for Candidate X…. field operations are a key element of every campaign, in addition to fund raising and communications. The field team knows who is likely to vote, convinces them to vote for Candidate X, and then gets them to the polls on Election Day, even if it means picking voters up in a van and driving them to the polling station themselves.

Filing Deadline

The date by which candidates must register themselves to run for office in a particular election. This doesn't have anything to do with you, unless you are running for office.

Going Up

When a candidate begins running television commercials prior to an election. For example, Ron Paul is "going up in Iowa."

Media Consultant

A consultant who advises candidates on commercials, speeches and other external communications. Usually charges mammoth amounts in fees. If you give a dollar to a candidate, the media consultant probably takes home 15 cents of it.

Nominee

The chosen candidate of each party to run in the general election.

NRCC

The National Republican Congressional Committee. As the DCCC is to the Democrats, the NRCC is to the Republicans. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.) is the Chair this cycle.

NRSC

The National Republican Senatorial Committee. The Republican equivalent of the DSCC. Senator John Cornyn (R-Tex.) chairs the NRSC this cycle.

PAC

Political Action Committee, pronounced "pack" and often combined with other words like WolfPAC, GoPAC, or Joe-SixPAC. PACs function to elect or defeat candidates or issues and can receive campaign contributions up $5,000 each. Nearly every federal elected official has a PAC, and many use them to help get other people elected for their own reasons. The 2010 cycle has seen the formation of SuperPacs, political action committees that can now raise unlimited funds, thanks to the Supreme Court Ruling in Citizens United v. FEC.

Pollster

A consultant to campaigns who takes polls to gauge the electorate's opinion of the candidate and her positions, and then advises the candidate on what to do about it.

Public Financing

Federal funds made available to a candidate in exchange for that candidate agreeing to limit their own spending. Public financing was designed to take some of the money out of politics by putting a cap on spending, but many presidential campaigns, including the Clinton and Obama campaigns in 2008, opt out of public funding in order to spend as much as they want.

Spokesperson

A press secretary or media adviser who fields reporters questions and speaks on behalf of a candidate when the candidate cannot or should not speak for themselves. Watch as spokespeople step in to deny an accusation or attack an opponent, when having the candidate do so would be unseemly.

Straw Poll

An early mock election that gauges support for each candidate running before an election. Michele Bachmann won the Iowa Straw poll in August 2011. Gets its name from the practice of holding a piece of straw to the wind to see which direction the wind is blowing, but today it is usually conducted on a strip of paper.

Stump

As in a "stump speech," "on the stump," or our favorite, "stumping." The stump is figuratively where a candidate gives a speech, taken from the time when candidates stood on an old tree stump or a soap box to be seen above the crowd while giving a speech.

Swing Voters

Voters who could support a candidate from either party. The conventional wisdom says that 45% of people will vote Republican, 45% will vote Democrat, and 10% are swing voters who can be persuaded to vote either way.

Third-party Candidates

A candidate in a general election for any office who is neither a Democrat nor a Republican. Ross Perot and Ralph Nader have been the most notable third-party candidates in recent presidential elections.

Government

Amendment

A suggested change to a bill that must be approved by a majority of Congress to be included in the bill itself.

Authorization

The amount of money that Congress agrees CAN be spent on a project or in a budget.

Appropriation

The amount of money that Congress agrees WILL be spent on a project or in a budget. Money usually cannot be appropriated unless is has already been authorized.

Back-bencher

Typically a member of the legislature in his her first or second term, sitting toward the back of the chamber presumably learning how the process works. Newt Gingrich was known as the prototypical back-bencher, mastering the House rules and building relationships, before rising to become House Speaker in 1995.

Caucus

Any group that gathers formally in Congress, including by party or issue. In addition to the Democratic and Republican caucuses, there are caucuses for ethnic groups, farm states, centrists, fiscal conservatives, military boosters, etc. Caucus can also be used as a verb, meaning to meet or gather. As in, "Hey- let's caucus on that."

Filibuster

Derived from a Dutch term for hijacking, a filibuster is a tactic to stop debate, and therefore progress, in the Senate. Any senator has the right to filibuster any bill, so you can imagine how efficient the Senate is. A vote by 60 other senators can force action on the bill.

Freshman

Just like it sounds-- a Member in his or her first term in Congress.

”The Leadership”

The highest ranking members of both parties in the House and Senate. That's John Boehner and Mitch McConnell for the Republicans and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid for the Democrats.

Majority Leaders/ Minority Leaders

The highest ranking members of the House and Senate for both parties, except the House Democrats. The highest ranking Democrat in the House is the House Speaker.

Member

Just like a country club, any member of the House of Representatives or the Senate is just called a "member" around the Capitol.

President pro-tem

The most senior member of the Senate's majority party and 3rd-in-line to the presidency after the Vice President and House Speaker. The current President pro-tem is Sen. Daniel Inoye of Hawaii.

Speaker of the House

The highest-ranking member of the House of Representatives and 2nd-in-line to the presidency, following the Vice President. John Boehner is the current House Speaker.

Veto

The president's ability to stop a bill from being passed even after Congress has approved it. Congress can override the president's veto with a 2/3 majority in both houses. “Veto” comes from the Latin "to forbid."

Whip

The member of each party in the House and Senate responsible for counting the number of supporters for each bill before the votes are cast. This is called "whipping a vote," and comes from the fox-hunting term "whipper-in." The whipper-in is the person responsible for counting the number of riders and hounds that go out on the hunt and making sure that the same number comes home.