A political organization can have a variety of definitions.  In its simplest terms, the political organization is a collection of people who focus on a political topic, participation or activism function. 

The political parties are often referred to as political organizations.  The major parties in US politics have a structured hierarchy, organizational design, even associated colors and themes.  The political parties historically have positioned themselves on the foundation of their political platform, or ideology.  Each election year, candidates join the party as potential nominees, with the winner of the primary election selected at the political conventions as the party representative for the presidential campaign.  

There are regional political centers that have become over time, historically powerful political organizations.  Once such center would be Chicago – also known as the Chicago Machine or the Cook County Political Organization.  Since the 1930s this system of ward committees and precinct captains to successfully nominate their candidates of choice.  In the late 1950s when Richard Daley dominated the Chicago Machine, this political organization was instrumental in moving John F. Kennedy forward as the most viable presidential candidate and the Cook County support helped Kennedy win the State of Illinois.   

Other political organizations are those that monitor, support or evaluate the political candidates.  This can include political organizations with history and structure such as the League of Women Voters, with a history of pairing back the hype to get to the issues and the candidate’s stance on those issues.  The League of Women Voters has been in existence since 1920 and while non-partisan has worked to advocate political issues, and identify candidate and their platforms since that time.  

Public Campaign is a political organization that focuses on reducing the tainting of political campaign funding in a non-partisan process.  

Rock the Vote is a political organization focused on raising the turnout for the young voter.  It provides education, awareness and public service campaigns to encourage youth to register, participate and turnout in the political process.  This organization was credited with helping Obama win the election. For more than two decades they have used Rock musicians and Celebrities to increase the “cool factor” of political involvement.  

There are also social networking applications and websites that have become political organizations.  There was much reported on the role of Facebook, Email and Twitter in the Obama grass roots campaign.  Emily’s List (early money is like yeast – helps the dough rise) is a fundraiser for political candidates.  This grass roots political organization has been instrumental in helping many female candidates in their run for office.  

The Center for Responsive Politics is another non-partisan political organization focused on monitoring the money in political campaigns and its effect on the process.  The center uses computer research on campaign funding to maintain a rich resource for related information.  

The political organization can be a small loosely based group trying to raise awareness for a given political topic, or the machine of the major political parties.  In its final analysis political organizations support, maintain, monitor or evaluate candidates, platforms and issues.