To: tejek who wrote (143652 ) 6/13/2014 4:24:06 PM From: Wharf Rat Read Replies (2) | Respond to "However, the president is in a very different position.He represents the entire country; not just Dems."The President As Party Leader He is the most visible "Republican" or "Democrat" in the country, able to command national attention for himself and his party. If he is adept as spokesman for his party, he brings favorable attention to all its members. The president serves as titular head of his party . He appoints its chairman and members of the national committee. Through this mechanism, he can control the nominating convention apparatus and is able to craft a platform giving himself and the party advantage over the opposition. The president is the chief campaigner for candidates in his own party and heads the ticket in national elections. If popular and effective, he can carry other candidates into office with him. If ineffective, he can bring down the whole party. Presidents also have an opportunity to convert members of the opposition party. very highly as party leader as well. During his first term, he crafted a new voting coalition - the "FDR Coalition" - which revitalized the Democratic party. Extremely popular and perceived as more successfully dealing with the depression, Roosevelt succeeded in converting millions of Republicans, the black voter, "white ethnics", and organized labor to the Democratic party. Aside from insuring his reelection in subsequent campaigns, this strengthened the party - something that would last far beyond his presidency. Roosevelt led the national ticket successfully on four separate occasions, sweeping literally hundreds of Democrat candidates - legislative, executive, and judicial at both the federal and state levels - into office with him. In this respect, he had extremely long "coattails". Furthermore, he made extraordinary use of this in 1933 and 1935, demanding repayment for services rendered from freshmen members of Congress who knew they owed him their office. FDR came to the Oval Office in 1932 in what was essentially an anti-Hoover election. Had he not been credited with dealing more successfully with the depression, the Republicans could have easily recaptured the nation four years hence. Instead, President Roosevelt led and managed the "realignment" of the political party system in the congressional election of 1934 and national election of 1936. By converting millions of voters permanently to the Democratic party, Republican dominancy, dating back to 1854, came to an end. The Democrats became the new majority party for the next half century. austincc.edu
