Political Party Chairperson / Campaign Mangager Role & Resources
Role:
It takes A LOT to get something changed in the U.S.A., but it is worth it...
As the political party (Democrat/Republican/Third Parties) chairperson, you must make important decisions about what DIRECTION your stand will take. In other words, you are basically the author of your group’s stand. Perhaps you will think of your job in terms of writing a powerful speech about your group’s position. Perhaps you will make an outline of how and why your group’s position is the RIGHT one. Whatever you choose, BE SURE to think of it as a platform on which your whole play is presented. Remember too, a platform has many planks. You have to have solid planks before you can build a good platform. Basically, your stand needs to be broken down into the main ideas that support your thinking (PLANKS), then combine them into one solid BIG IDEA that covers all your planks (THAT will be your PLATFORM)! So, build your platform, but you MUST also answer the following questions ON YOUR OWN paper and share them with your group BEFORE deciding on how best to present your group's side of the issue to the whole class. Use the resources (internet and books) included herein to help you find the answers to these and other important questions you think of on your own.
1. What is a platform? And, what is your group’s platform going to be? (See party websites for ideas).
2. What are planks? Your group MUST have planks before it can have a platform.
3. What is the MOST important part of your group’s message? Sum it up in one or two AWESOME sentences.
4. What are the TOP five ideas that support your group’s stand? Those will be your plans- write them up as ONE brilliant sentence for each idea/plank.
5. In one paragraph, write your ideas for how to make a convincing argument that your platform is the CORRECT one. Back up your platform with at least THREE details/planks!
Resources:
It takes A LOT to get something changed in the U.S.A., but it is worth it...
As the political party (Democrat/Republican/Third Parties) chairperson, you must make important decisions about what DIRECTION your stand will take. In other words, you are basically the author of your group’s stand. Perhaps you will think of your job in terms of writing a powerful speech about your group’s position. Perhaps you will make an outline of how and why your group’s position is the RIGHT one. Whatever you choose, BE SURE to think of it as a platform on which your whole play is presented. Remember too, a platform has many planks. You have to have solid planks before you can build a good platform. Basically, your stand needs to be broken down into the main ideas that support your thinking (PLANKS), then combine them into one solid BIG IDEA that covers all your planks (THAT will be your PLATFORM)! So, build your platform, but you MUST also answer the following questions ON YOUR OWN paper and share them with your group BEFORE deciding on how best to present your group's side of the issue to the whole class. Use the resources (internet and books) included herein to help you find the answers to these and other important questions you think of on your own.
1. What is a platform? And, what is your group’s platform going to be? (See party websites for ideas).
2. What are planks? Your group MUST have planks before it can have a platform.
3. What is the MOST important part of your group’s message? Sum it up in one or two AWESOME sentences.
4. What are the TOP five ideas that support your group’s stand? Those will be your plans- write them up as ONE brilliant sentence for each idea/plank.
5. In one paragraph, write your ideas for how to make a convincing argument that your platform is the CORRECT one. Back up your platform with at least THREE details/planks!
Resources:
- Voting and Registration, US Census Bureau http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/voting.html
- Population Demographics
http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-gov-tree?id=SMDK12-0-3968&key=0000008690&begin=0000007301&gov=Y&&auth_checked=Y - Political Parties Democratic
http://www.democrats.org/ - Republican
http://www.rnc.org/ - Green (10 Key values)
http://web.greens.org/etc/gpusa-values2k.html - Libertarian
http://www.lp.org/issues/issues.shtml - Natural Law
http://home.natural-law.org/platform/index.html - Reform
http://www.reformparty.org/platform.htm - Socialist
http://www.dsausa.org/dsa.html - U.S. Taxpayers
http://www.ustaxpayers.org/do/About#phil - The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/ - Federal Election Commission
http://www.fec.gov/ - Public Campaign: Real Campaign Finance Reform
http://www.publicampaign.org/ - pictures of campaign buttons used by many presidential candidates. Good source for advertising executives!
http://www.campaignbuttons-etc.com/ - Duke University Library has a special collection of campaign memorabilia. There are pictures examples of materials presidential candidates have used during their campaigns
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/americavotes/ - This CNN site requires QuickTime to view the ads. This site includes famous commercial ads from elections in 1952 to 1988.
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/candidates/ad.archive/ - This is the White House's official link to presidential biographies.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/index.html - This site is part of the American President series from CSPAN and PBS. These biographies are brief, but contain good information
http://www.americanpresident.org/history/
<< Home