SEE ALSO:

1. RINO
2. Yellow Dog Democrats
3. Blue Dog Democrats

CNN: “Practically speaking, if a candidate removes him- or herself from the race without the intent of re-entering at a later date, then there is not a big difference between ‘suspending’ a campaign vs. dropping out entirely. The end result is usually the same: the candidate is no longer seeking that particular office… That said, there are two main differences between ‘suspending’ and ending a presidential campaign: delegates and money.”

Candidates who suspend their campaigns usually get to keep any delegates they’ve won and can continue to raise money beyond what’s needed to retire their campaign debts. In contrast, candidates who actually drop out of a race, usually have to forfeit certain delegates and are limited in how they can raise future funds.

Slate: “The phrase has been employed at least as far back as the 1970s and continues to serve as the most popular way for candidates to end their primary bids without closing down their campaign committees.”

SEE ALSO:

1. brokered convention
2. whisper campaign
3. front-porch campaign

A stalking horse candidate is also sometimes used to divide the opposition in order to help another candidate.

Daryl Lyman: “The expression originated hundreds of years ago in old English hunting practices, especially among fowlers. Many kinds of game that would flee at the first sign of humans would not be alarmed by the approach of a horse. Therefore, fowlers trained horses to serve as covers during hunting.”

SEE ALSO:

1. dark horse
2. whisper campaign
3. coattail effect

The term refers to American advice columnist Dorothy Dix’s reputed practice of making up her own questions to allow her to publish more interesting answers.

The term has been used in Australian politics since the 1950s, and has become increasingly common in everyday usage, but interestingly is virtually unknown in other countries where Dix’s advice column was equally popular.

SEE ALSO:

1. gotcha question
2. flip-flop
3. Shivercrats

The process by which a political party or campaign urges its supporters to vote in the immediately approaching election.

SEE ALSO:

1. exit polls
2. chum
3. motor voter

The term was coined after South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) went missing in 2009, claiming that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail when in reality he was in Argentina with his mistress.

SEE ALSO:

1. mark-up
2. checks and balances
3. political suicide

In his 1959 book Masters of Deceit, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover described entryist tactics by Soviet agents to infiltrate school boards, trade unions, and major party precinct organizations.

SEE ALSO:

1. cookie-cutter campaigns
2. agitprop
3. one-minute speeches

Some leaks by politicians are intentional, also called a trial balloon, so that they can judge the reaction to a proposed policy change before publicly committing to the new position.

SEE ALSO:

1. trial balloon
2. flip-flop
3. czar

Bundling has always existed in various forms, but has become more important with the enactment of limits on campaign contributions at the federal level and in most states during the 1970s.

SEE ALSO:

1. bundling
2. Cherokee Strip
3. ping pong

Before the era of presidential primaries, political party conventions were routinely brokered. The most recent brokered convention nominees were Adlai Stevenson at the 1952 Democratic convention and Thomas Dewey at the 1948 Republican convention.

More recently, a brokered convention is mostly just a political junkie’s fantasy. The modern party primary system almost always determines an overwhelming winner of delegates. And as David Frum notes, it’s hard to imagine a “brokered convention” when there is no such thing as political “brokers” any more. Elected delegates to a convention aren’t going to be swayed by political leaders deciding the nominee in a backroom.

A brokered convention was portrayed in the film The Best Man starring Henry Fonda.

SEE ALSO:

1. convention bounce
2. favorite son
3. caucus