An election in which there is no incumbent officeholder
partisan
A committed member of a party; seeing issues from the point of view of the interests of a single party
constituency
the district of a legislator
constituent
A citizen who lives in the district of an elected official
franking privilege
Public subsidization of mail from the members of Congress to their constituents
casework
services performed by members of Congress for constituents
pork
Also called pork barrel; projects designed to bringto the constituency jobs and public money for which the members of Congress canclaim credit.
party conference
An organization of the members of a political party in the House or Senate
caucus
A regional,ethnic, racial or economic subgroup within the House or Senate. Also used to describe the party in the Houseand Senate as in Republican caucus.
seniority
The principle that one attains a position on the basis of length of service
ranking minority member
The highest ranking member of the minority party on acongressional committee
unanimous consent
Legislative action taken “without objection” as a way toexpedite business; used to conduct much of the business of the Senate
oversight
Congressionalresponsibility for monitoring the actions of executive branch agencies andpersonnel to ensure conformity to federal statutes and congressional intent
impeachment
House actionbringing formal charges against a member of the executive branch on the federaljudiciary that may or may not lead to removal from office by the Senate