THE CMDI POLITICAL GLOSSARY
Like any industry or job sector, the political arena has its own vocabulary of jargon. Some of it has roots in 19th century history, and some are important technical terms defined by the Federal Election Commission. The entries below are by no means an exhaustive compilation. However, this is a good place to start or a reference to keep on hand when you hear a new word or expression.
Scroll down to look for a specific word or click to an individual page to see all the entries under that letter of the alphabet.
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Scroll down to look for a specific word or click to an individual page to see all the entries under that letter of the alphabet.
| 0-9 | I | R |
| A | J | S |
| B | K | T |
| C | L | U |
| D | M | V |
| E | N | W |
| F | O | X |
| G | P | Y |
| H | Q | Z |
0-9
| 501(c) Groups | |
| 527 Groups |
A
| Absentee Ballot | Agitprop |
| Act | Allocation Account |
| Administrative Adjudication | Alternative Dispute Resolution Office (ADRO) |
| Administrative Expense | Appointment Power |
| Advance | Appropriation |
| Advisory Opinion (AO) | Astroturfing |
| Affliated Committees | Authorized Committee |
| Agenda-setting | |
| Agent |
B
| Backbencher | Blue State |
| Bad-tendency Rule | Blue Dog Democrats |
| Balancing the Ticket | Body Man |
| Ballot Initiative | Borking |
| Bandwagon | Bradley Effect |
| Barnstormer | Brokered Convention |
| Battleground State | Buckley v. Valeo |
| Bellwether State | Bully Pulpit |
| Beltway | Bundled Contribution |
| Best Effort | Bundling |
| Bicameral Legislature | Bunk |
| Bill of Rights | Bureaucracy |
| Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) | Bureaucratic Politics |
| Blanket Primary | By-election |
| Bleeding Heart |
C
| Campaign Committee | Checkers Speech | Contribution |
| Campaign Spending Limit | Checks and Balances | Contribution Limits |
| Campaign Traveler | Chicago-style Politics | Convention Bounce |
| Candidate | Chum | Cookie-cutter Campaigns |
| Candidate-to-Candidate Giving | Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission | Coordinated |
| Candidate ID | Clearly Identified Candidate | Coordinated Communication |
| Cash on Hand | Cloakroom | Coordinated Expenditure |
| Carpetbagger | Cloture | Coordinated Party Expenditure |
| Cattle Call | Coalition | Corporation |
| Caucus | Coattail Effect | Costs of Funds Raised |
| Ceiling | Commercial Vendor | Crimson |
| Ceteris paribus | Committee Type | CrimsonFiler |
| CMDI | Communications Fliers | CrimsonMobile |
| CFR | Compliance Funds | CrimsonRPM |
| Chain of Custody | Conduit | Cutting Turf |
| Challenger | Connected Organization |
D
| Dark Horse | Demosclerosis | |
| Dark Money | Dialing for Dollars | |
| Date Made | Direct Mail | |
| Date Received | Disbursement | |
| De Facto Segregation | Disclaimer Notice | |
| Dealignment | Disclosure | |
| Debt | District | |
| Debt Retirement | Dog-whistle | |
| Delegate | Donation | |
| Delegate Committee | Donor | |
| Demagogue | Donor Base | |
| Democratically-Financed Elections | Double Giving |
E
| Earmarked Contribution | Entryism | |
| Elastic State | Equal Protection | |
| Election | Exempt Party Activities | |
| Election Cycle | Exit Polls | |
| Electioneering Communications | Expenditure | |
| Elector | Exploratory Committee | |
| Electoral College | Express Advocacy | |
| Eleventh Commandment | Expressed Powers |
F
| Facilitation | Fence Mending | Foreign National |
| Faithless Elector | Fifth Column | Fourth Estate |
| Fairness Doctrine | Filibuster | Franking Privilege |
| Farley File | Filing | Free Rider |
| Favorite Son | Finance | Friends-Asking-Friends Fundraising |
| FEC Commissioner | Finance Committee | Front-loading |
| FEC Identification Number | Financially Competitive | Front-porch Campaign |
| Federal Election Activity | Fingerprinting | Front-runner |
| Federal Election Campaign Act | Firehouse Primary | Frugging |
| Federal Election Commission | Fishing Expedition | Full Ginsburg |
| Federal Funds | Flake Rate | Full Public Financing |
| Federal Government Contractor | Flip-flop | Fundraising |
| Federal Officeholder | Floor | Fundraising Expense |
| Federal Register | Follow the Money | Fusion Voting |
G
| Gaffe | ||
| General Election | ||
| General Election Public Funding | ||
| Generic Campaign Activity | ||
| Gerrymandering | ||
| Get Out the Vote | ||
| Glad-hander | ||
| Goals | ||
| Gotcha Question | ||
| Grassroots | ||
| Grifter |
H
| Hardball | ||
| Hard Money | ||
| Hatch Act | ||
| Honest Graft | ||
| Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 | ||
| Honeymoon Period | ||
| Host Committee | ||
| Hybrid PAC | ||
| Hyperpluralism |
I
| In-kind Contributions | Individual Contributions | |
| Identification | Inside Baseball | |
| Ideological Contributor | Inside the Beltway | |
| Ideological PAC | Inside Game | |
| Inaugural Committee | Invisible Primary | |
| Incumbent | Iron Triangle | |
| Incumbent Rule | Issue Ads | |
| Independent Expenditures | Issue Network | |
| Independent Expenditure-Only Political Committee |
J
| Joint Contribution | ||
| Joint Fundraising | ||
| Joint Fundraising Committee | ||
| Jungle Primary | ||
| Junket |
K
| K Street | ||
| Kitchen Cabinet |
L
| Labor Organization | Levin Funds | |
| Lame Duck Session | Limited Liability Company | |
| Landslide | Lobbyist/Registrant | |
| Leadership PAC | Lobbyist/Registrant PAC | |
| Leak | Local or District Party Committee | |
| Legal Defense Fund | Local Party Organization | |
| Legislative Agenda | Lowest Unit Rate | |
| Labor Organization | Levin Funds | |
| Lame Duck Session | Limited Liability Company | |
| Landslide | Lobbyist/Registrant | |
| Leadership PAC | Lobbyist/Registrant PAC | |
| Leak | Local or District Party Committee | |
| Legal Defense Fund | Local Party Organization | |
| Legislative Agenda | Lowest Unit Rate |
M
| Major Party | Military Industrial Complex | |
| Malapportionment | Moneybomb | |
| Matching Funds | Money Blurt | |
| Maxing Out | Motor Voter | |
| McCain Feingold | Muckraker | |
| Memo Entry | Mudslinging | |
| Member | Multi-candidate Committee | |
| Membership Organization | MUR | |
| Memo Entry |
N
| National Committee | Nongovernmental Organization | |
| National Convention: | Non-partisan | |
| National Party Committee | Non-Party Committee | |
| Nattering Nabobs of Negativism | NRCC | |
| Net Debts Outstanding | NRSC | |
| Non-connected Committee | Nut-cutting Time | |
| Non-federal Funds |
O
| October Surprise | ||
| Office of General Counsel | ||
| Office-block Ballot | ||
| Open Primary | ||
| Opinion Leader | ||
| Organization Type | ||
| Outside Game |
P
| PAC | Pluralism | Primary Election |
| Pack Journalism | Plurality | Principal Campaign Committee |
| Paradox of Participation | Poison the Well | Prior Approval |
| Partisan | Political Appointees | Prohibited Sources |
| Party Activist | Political Committee | Proportional Representation |
| Party Committee | Political Party | Psephology |
| Party-column Ballot | Political Suicide | Public Communication |
| Party Platform | Pork Barrel Politics | Public Funding |
| Patronage | Pork Barrel Projects | Publicly-Financed Elections |
| Peer-to-Peer Fundraising | Precinct | Purple State |
| Personal Use | Presidential Commission | Push Card |
| Petitioning | Presidential Primary | Push Poll |
| Photo-op | Presidential Public Funds |
R
| RAD | Red State | |
| Rally ’Round the Flag Effect | Redesignated Contribution | |
| Ratings Game | Redistricting | |
| Reagan Democrat | Refunded Contribution | |
| Realigning Election | Reports, Designations & Statements | |
| Realignment | Restricted | |
| Reapportionment | Retention Election | |
| Reattributed Contribution | RFAI | |
| Recall Election | Rhetoric | |
| Receipt | Richards Effect | |
| Recount Fund | Roorback | |
| Red Herring | Rubber Chicken Circuit |
S
| Sacred Cow | Special Election | Strange Bedfellows |
| Separate Segregated Fund (SSF) | Spending Limits | State Party Committee |
| Shadow Committee | Spin Alley | Strategery |
| Shermanesque Statement | Splinter Party | Stump Speech |
| Six-year Itch | Split Ticket | Super Delegate |
| Smoke-filled Room | Spoiler | Super PAC |
| Snollygoster | Spoils System | Super Tuesday |
| Social Capital | Stalking Horse | Surplus Funds |
| Social Fundraising | Staffer | Suspended Campaign |
| Soft Money | State Party Committee | Swing States |
| Solicit | Stemwinder | |
| Solicitation (SSF) | Straight Ticket |
T
| Talking Points | Trade Association | |
| Teflon-coated Presidency | Transition Fund | |
| Testing the Waters | Treasurer | |
| Third-party candidate | Treasury Funds | |
| Ticket | Triangulation | |
| To Direct | Thrown Under the Bus | |
| To Solicit | Trial Balloon | |
| Total Disbursements | Turkey Farm |
U
| Usual and Normal Charge |
V
| Volunteer | ||
| Voter Drive Activity | ||
| Voter Identification | ||
| Voter Registration Activity | ||
| Voter Turnout | ||
| Voting Behavior |
W
| War Chest | ||
| Washington Community | ||
| Wave Election | ||
| Wedge Issue | ||
| Whisper Campaign | ||
| Whistle-stopping | ||
| Widget | ||
| WidgetMakr | ||
| Winner-Take-All | ||
| Witch Hunt | ||
| Wonk |
Y
| Yellow Journalism |