poli chapter 11

An election in which there is no incumbent officeholder

A committed member of a party; seeing issues from the point of view of the interests of a single party

the district of a legislator

A citizen who lives in the district of an elected official

Public subsidization of mail from the members of Congress to their constituents

services performed by members of Congress for constituents

Also called pork barrel; projects designed to bringto the constituency jobs and public money for which the members of Congress canclaim credit.

An organization of the members of a political party in the House or Senate

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.

The principle that one attains a position on the basis of length of service

The highest ranking member of the minority party on acongressional committee

Legislative action taken “without objection” as a way toexpedite business; used to conduct much of the business of the Senate

Congressionalresponsibility for monitoring the actions of executive branch agencies andpersonnel to ensure conformity to federal statutes and congressional intent

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