1. Why have Republicans frequently struggled to connect with Hispanic voters? Why are Hispanic voters so essential to most Republican strategies for the White House?

2. How do predictable dates for elections affect American political participation? Campaign strategies? How might it affect policy?

3. What is retrospective voting and how would you use? In what ways is retrospective voting rational? Irrational?

4. If you were a candidate for office, would you use negative ads? Why or why not? Would your answer change if your campaign were attacked?

5. What are GOTV efforts? Have any of you ever been contacted on or before election day and encouraged to vote? If so, can you describe the experience? Did it make you more likely to participate? Less likely?

6. Why do people want to regulate campaign spending? Why has it proven so difficult to do? In what ways have the Supreme Court made those regulations more difficult?

7. Imagine you were a candidate running for your party’s nomination for president. How would your strategy differ in open primary states versus closed primary states? How would it differ further in caucus states?

8. What would the founders say about faithless electors and state laws that penalize them? Would they support such efforts, why or why not?

9. What is the coattail effect and why do some presidents have longer coattails than others? In other words, why do some presidential candidates more strongly affect the races beneath them than others?

10. Should other states adopt California’s top two primary? Why or why not? In what ways does it improve the system and in what ways does it complicate the system? Does it lead to more democratic outcomes than a traditional open or closed primary?

11. Why are candidates more likely to run for Congress in open seats? What are the risks of that strategy?