unified government: The same party controls the White House and both houses of Congress. For example, when George W. Bush became president in 2001, the Republican party controlled majority of both the White House and Congress.
2. divided government: One party controls the White House and another party controls one or both houses of Congress. For example, the United States right now has a divided government because our President, Barack Obama, is Democrat while the majority in both houses of Congress are Republican.
3. gridlock: The inability of the government to act because rival parties control different parts of the government. For example, the impeachment of President Clinton could be considered Gridlock because 6 out of the 8 years President Clinton was in office, Republicans controlled Congress.
4. electoral college: The people chosen to cast each state’s votes in a presidential election. Each state can cast one electoral vote for each senator and representatives it has. The District of Columbia has three electoral votes, even though it cannot elect a representative or senator. For Example, California has 55 electoral votes.
5. executive privilege: the privilege of a President and his staff to withhold their "privileged" conversations from Congress or the courts, usually for reasons of national security. For example, President Nixon tried to declare his watergate scandal as an executive privilege, although it was denied.
6. executive order: Presidential rule or regulation that has the force of the law. For example, Obama passed an executive order on December 19, 2014 for adjustment of Certain Rates of Pay.
7. line-item veto: An executive’s ability to block a particular provision in a bill passed by legislature. For example, Viewing the line-item veto as an effective tactic against pork-barrel legislation, presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W.Bush unsuccessfully sought this authority, which many state governors possess, from Congress...