Public Policy, the News Media, and Outside Interests
“The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.” – James Madison
Open your physical or email mailbox during a campaign year and you may find hundreds of unsolicited, political handbills funded by individual campaigns, Political Action Committees (PACs), and Super Political Action Committees (SPACs). Handbills may include endorsements and/or condemnation from interest groups, public policy concerns, and snippets of news coverage favorable and/or unfavorable to a candidate and/or officeholder. Handbills may also contain information about a persons voting record and their public policy concerns.
As you can imagine, creating a favorable handbill that fully articulates the strength of the candidates character, public policy concerns, and endorsements takes a bit of research and finesse. In this assignment, you are going to give this kind of work a try.
Following are some suggested resources for creating your handbill:

Ballotpedias website on political parties in the United States.
Data on Campaign Finance, Super PACs, Industries, and Lobbying. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.opensecrets.org/.
Candidates official website, which you can find by googling the candidates name + official website.
Local, State, and National News Media.
On the Issues website about candidates and elected officials political positions.
Pew Research Centers website on public opinion polling and data-driven political research.
Vote Smarts website database on candidates and elected officials.

Directions: Select a recent candidate or officeholder at the federal level that you considered supporting with your vote. Craft a handbill that advocates your persons candidacy. Include the following:

The Individual

Does this persons moral and professional capacity make this individual capable of serving we the people ethically and well?

Political Party

Does the person align well with the political party?
Does the person have a political party endorsement?

Public Policy

Select two specific examples of public policy that your person advocates from the following fields:

Economic policy “ for example, U.S. budget deficit spending.
Education policy “ for example, the implementation of charter schools.
Environmental policy “ for example, the Clean Air Act.
Foreign policy “ for example, the interplay between civil liberties and the Patriot Act.
Healthcare policy “ for example, the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
Welfare policy “ for example, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

Why are these public policies important to this person and the potential voters?

Endorsements

Individuals?
Interest Groups? Note: PAC donations illustrate support.
News Media?
Others?

Support your analysis with information from the text and at least two additional academic sources.

Your assignment should also meet the following requirements:

APA format.

Title page.
Reference page.
APA citations.
Double spaced sentences.
12-point Times New Roman font.

Standard English grammar conventions.

Correct grammar.
Correct punctuation and spelling.
Logical, well-ordered sentences.

Not Required/Optional: You may use graphics, images, etc. Visually, a visualization company has some examples of graphic-heavy, public policy handbills.