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What is 'the House' in American politics?

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The American political system has three centres of power. These are  the President and the two chambers in the American Congress the -  Senate  and the  House of Representatives .  'The House' is the bigger body because congressmen are elected at a local level while the Senate consists of two senators from each State. At present the Presidency & the Senate are controlled by the Democrats. The Republicans have a small majority in the House. Legislation has to pass from the House to the Senate and finally to the President.  Because the two main parties (the Republicans & the Democrats) have major philosophical differences most legislation is contested.

US Election Vocabulary: Electoral college? Battleground states?

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US presidential elections are not decided by  the  popular vote  (counting the number of votes obtained nationally for each candidate).  Each voter  votes for a state representative to allocate a vote for the president and vice president in what is called an  electoral college . What is the electoral college? States send delegates to the electoral college according to the state vote - with 48 out of 50 using a 'winner takes all system'. Only in Maine and Nebraska are the delegates allocated proportionally. The number of delegates sent to the electoral college is decided by the population of the state. Thus the largest delegations come from the most populous states: New York, California and Texas. Most states are comfortably red (Republican) or blue (Democrat) - see here . This means that presidential elections are essentially fought over a small number of purple or battleground states which swing between parties in different election cycles. Ohio was the classic exam

What does it mean to 'move the needle'?

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The expression “ moving the needle ” first appeared in England during the industrial revolution.  The reference was to gauges on steam engines.    During World War II, it became a more common term in reference to aviation gauges.  In business today it’s synonymous with making progress.   Source In US politics to 'move the needle' is to significantly change the opinion polls in the direction of your candidate.  An alternative - more recent - origin to the one above comes from seismology. The movement of the Richter Scale indicates the strength of an earthquake.

What is a zero-sum game?

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A zero-sum game is  a competition/conflict in which 'the winner takes all'. Whatever is gained on one side is lost on the other.