earmarked
Funds that are allocated to a specific program, project or for a designated purpose. Revenues are earmarked by law. Expenditures are earmarked by appropriations bills or reports. According to the...
View Articleex officio
From Latin, meaning, “by virtue of one’s office.” Ex officio status in all sub-committees is usually granted to the committee chairman and minority leader. They are typically not permitted the same...
View ArticleElectoral College
The Electoral College was established by the founding fathers as a compromise between election of the president by Congress and election by popular vote. Americans actually vote for the electors who...
View Articleexit polls
An exit poll is a poll of voters taken immediately as they leave the polling place in which they are asked which candidate they chose. Exit polls are conducted by media companies to get an early...
View ArticleEleventh Commandment
A phrase used by Ronald Reagan during his 1966 gubernatorial campaign in California, which read: “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.” It was created by California Republican Party...
View ArticleElection Administrator’s Prayer
“Please, please, please let the winners win big.” or “Lord, let this election not be close.” Doug Lewis, Executive Director of the National Association of Election Officials, was quoted by USA Today...
View Articleentryism
A political tactic of joining an organization with which you do not agree with the intention of changing it from the inside. In his 1959 book Masters of Deceit, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover described...
View Articleelastic state
A state whose voting outcome in a presidential election is relatively sensitive or responsive to changes in political conditions, such as a change in the national economic mood. Nate Silver: “Elastic...
View Articleego wall
A wall where people flaunt their political connections by displaying photos of themselves with more famous people. The phenomenon is also sometimes called the “glory wall” or “me wall.” Mike Nichols:...
View ArticleEarth Day
Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First celebrated in 1970, it now includes events coordinated globally in more than 193...
View Articleeffete snobs
“Effete snobs” was a phrase used by Vice President Spiro Agnew to denounce anti-war protesters, and young intellectuals in general, during the Vietnam era. The phrase quickly caught on and was adopted...
View Articleelectioneer
To “electioneer” is to actively take part in an election by working for the election of a candidate or a party. The word is almost always used in a pejorative sense. Most of the time “electioneering”...
View Articleeight millionaires and a plumber
“Eight millionaires and a plumber” is a dismissive reference to President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s first cabinet. Eisenhower’s critics complained that the president’s top advisers were all wealthy and...
View Articleenemies list
A list of political opponents kept by the Nixon administration. The phrase “enemies list” is now used as shorthand to refer to suspected abuses of power in any administration. In 1973, former White...
View Articleeunuch rule
The “eunuch rule” is a reference to the provisions in many state constitutions which prevented state governors from running for a second consecutive term in office. Those provisions have been amended...
View ArticleEra of Good Feeling
The “Era of Good Feeling” refers to a period in U.S. history from about 1815 until about 1825, characterized by a sense of optimism and positivity. The era is closely associated with the presidency of...
View Articleevery man a king
“Every Man a King” is the title of a speech delivered in 1934 by Senator Huey Long of Louisiana. The speech, which Long delivered on national radio, is one of Long’s most famous speeches, along with...
View Articleevil empire
“Evil empire” was President Ronald Reagan’s name for the USSR. Reagan often portrayed the struggle between the US and the USSR as a moral war between good and evil. In some of his most famous speeches,...
View ArticleEleventh Commandment
Ronald Reagan famously said that the “eleventh commandment” was, “Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.” The phrase was coined in the 1960s by Gaylord Parkinson, who was the state chairman of...
View ArticleElectoral College
The Electoral College is a constitutionally mandated process that determines who serves as president and vice president of the United States every four years. It was a compromise between having...
View Article
