Road to the White House

Decision to Run  Press conference or other announcement… a person decides to run and “throws his hat into the ring”  Need money, media attention & momentum

Campaign  Need campaign organization to run the campaign  Travel around to various states to win as many primaries as possible  Want to get as many delegates as possible committed to you for the National Convention

Financing the Campaign  Candidates need to build up a “war chest”—funds used to pay election costs  Small donors—most funds raised through direct mail or Internet, frequently amounts of $25 to $100  In 2008, Obama received donations from over 1 million voters over the Internet  Large donors—donation limit is $2,500 for primary election and another $2,500 for the general election

Financing the Campaign  Political Action Committees (PACs)—formed by corporations, labor unions, interest groups  PAC donations are limited to $5,000 for a primary candidate and another $5,000 for the general election  Personal assets or loans—amount unlimited by law  Political Parties can give money to their candidates

Financing the Campaign  Federal Election Campaign Act passed 1971; amended 1974  Goal was to limit presidential campaign spending, limit contributions to campaigns and provide public funding for campaigns  Created the Federal Election Commission (FEC) which oversees & enforces federal campaign laws

Buckley v. Valeo 1976  Supreme Court case which challenged FECA  Part of the law was declared constitutional  Limits on the amount an individual could spend on his/her own campaign was declared unconstitutional; Court saw spending your own money as a form of free speech  Limit on total amount spent on a campaign was declared unconstitutional  But… if a candidate accepts federal support, he/she agree to limit their campaign spending (FECA)

Financing the Campaign  Hard money… what a candidate spends on his campaign  Soft money… money donated and spent on party building activities or generic advertising/issue ads; no campaign contribution limits  Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act 2002 (BCRA) also called McCain-Feingold Act  Banned the use of soft money for an individual’s campaign; banned issue ads during the 60 days prior to an election

Financing the Campaign  Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life 2007  Supreme Court ruled that issue ads that were clearly published to get people to vote for/against a candidate can be banned.  Also requires candidates to take responsibility for their campaign ads… “I am Barak Obama and I have approved the contents of this ad”

Financing the Campaign  527 Committees (from Section 527 of the Tax Code)  Can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money because they are not connected to a specific political party  This is a way to continue to use soft money

Caucus  Iowa Caucus… Jan. 3, 2012  Top Republican candidates… Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney  The caucus is like a pyramid… people attend local meetings and elect people to attend a county convention, then to a district convention, then state convention  The state convention chooses the delegates to the National Convention

Caucus  Some states using the caucus system are…  Iowa, Alaska, Colorado, Maine  Texas Democratic Party uses a system called the “Texas Two-Step”  A person first votes in the primary, then can return in the evening for the caucus to choose delegates to the county meeting. To participate in the caucus, one must have voted in the primary

Texas Two-Step  There are 228 delegates to the state convention  35 are considered “super delegates” who can vote for whomever they choose  The rest of the delegates are assigned 2/3 based on the primary vote and the rest based on the caucus decision  The system was created to increase diversity in people who participate in politics  The “Two-Step” was first used in 1988

McGovern-Fraser Commission  Due to riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, the McGovern-Fraser Commission was created in 1968  Led to new rules for choosing delegates to attend the DNC to make the convention more diverse and open to voters  This led to the importance and use of primary elections in many states

Primaries  Open Primary (Pick-a-Party)… voters can choose which party to vote for on the day of the primary, allowing for “crossover” voting  Texas is an Open Primary state  Closed Primary… a voter must already be registered with the party to vote in their primary; voters who consider themselves independents cannot vote  13 states use Closed Primary in 2012

Primaries  Semi-closed Primary…allows independent voters to choose a party to vote in the primary; those registered with a party vote in that party’s primary  Top Two Primary… all candidates are on the ballot regardless of party affiliation; top two winners are on the general election ballot  Used in California and Washington

Primaries  Blanket Primary… voters choose one candidate regardless of party… all candidates are listed on the same ballot  New Hampshire… in the past, the New Hampshire primary was held in March. In 2008, several states moved up their primary dates and New Hampshire changed their date to January.  NH Primary was Jan. 10, 2012  There were 33 candidates on the Republican ballot

Primaries—Super Tuesday  Super Tuesday… a group of states that hold their primaries on the same day to give more power/clout to those states in the process of choosing the party nominee for president  Occurs in either February or March  First used in 1988

Primaries—Super Tuesday  2000—16 states  2004—10 states  2012—10 states  Texas has participated in Super Tuesday in the past, but this year the primary election was at the end of May

National Party Convention  Speeches by Vice-presidential nominee, presidential nominee speaks the last night  Party platform is written and approved at the convention… used for the next four years  Rewards party workers who get to be delegates  Superdelegates—used in the Democratic Party… national party leaders who get delegate spots at the DNC (approx 15%)

The Election  After the National Party Convention, continue campaigning  Popular vote in November  Electoral College vote in December  Winner takes the oath of office in January of the next year (January 2013)

Oath of Office  The Oath is found in Article II Section I of the Constitution  The Oath is administered by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

Sources     controversial-texas-two-step/ controversial-texas-two-step/  and-top-two and-top-two     Government Alive! Power, Politics, and You