Election Goals and the Allocation of Campaign Resources

Abstract

This paper compares the equilibrium behavior and outcomes in a model of two-party competition for legislative seats, under two different assumptions about the parties' goals: 1) parties maximize the expected number of seats won; and 2) parties maximize the probability of winning a majority of the seats. The two goals may lead to qualitatively different behavior, and studying the differences yields insights into the relationship between the goals, and the role of assymetries between the parties