This site requires Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher / Mozilla-Compatible Browser, Macromedia Flash player, Adobe Acrobat Reader
Some exercises have external links to video and audio files which require one of the following media players:
Questions or comments? Please contact the editor, Denise Shanks
This exercise is meant to explore the relationship between politicians and interest groups. The text bemoans the problem of too much influence by special interests, and this video clip, from “NOW with Bill Moyers” will investigate some of those problems.
Go to Bill Moyers interviews Chuck Lewis, author of THE BUYING OF THE PRESIDENT 2004 (18:52) at http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/buyingpres.html#
Scroll about halfway down the page. Click on the “watch the video” link to play the clip:
1. What was the advertised benefit for a $3,000 corporate donation to the Republican “GOP Majority Committee” at the Biltmore Resort in Arizona?
2. On average, about how much did George W. Bush raise per day in 2004?
3. How many fund-raisers did John Edwards attend in the first 3 months of his campaign?
4. Who bankrolled George W. Bush’s campaign?
5. Who bankrolled the Democrats in the 2004 primaries?
6. In 2002, of the 435 races in the House of Reps, how many incumbents lost their seats?
7. Does Charles Lewis think our government is of, by and for the average person? Explain.
8. The authors of the text argue that “in the realm of group politics, liberty seems inconsistent with equality.” How does this clip support that argument?
