Selecting a President: The Presidential Nomination and Election Process

Presidential Selection Stage 1: Caucuses & Primaries The Battle for the Party Faithful Stage 2: Nominating Conventions “Glorified Infomercials?” Stage 3: General Election The Fight for the Center Stage 4: Electoral College Power to the People?

Announcing candidacy & organizing Candidates officially enter the “race” to the Presidency Campaign is organized for upcoming events: Network of workers/volunteers (phone calls, publicity, planners, etc.) Accounts created for future fundraising abcnews.go.com

Pre-primary fundraising, campaigning, and debating Candidates begin fundraising for the upcoming spring primary/caucus season Campaigning for the party primary/caucus is in full swing during this time Debates will be held between the main contenders washingtonpost.com

Stage 1: Caucuses Closed meeting of party members in each state Barrack Obama campaigns in Iowa Closed meeting of party members in each state Delegates select the party’s choice for presidential candidate Currently used in only six states

Stage 1: Caucuses Hilary Clinton (D) and Rudy Guilliani (R) campaigning in Iowa The Iowa Caucus is the first primary/caucus and is normally held on January 3, 2008. Considering Iowa is a relatively small state, why are the Iowa caucuses so important??

Stage 1: Primaries Presidential Primary Elections - special elections in which voters select candidates to be the party’s nominee for president in the general election. Primary Season - January - June Who Decides? - State party organizations for the most part decide the rules for the primaries in a particular state. Types of Primaries: Closed Primaries Open Primaries Mitt Romney campaigning in New Hampshire

Closed Primary Voters may vote in a party's primary only if they are registered members of that party

Open Primary A registered voter may vote in any party primary regardless of his or her own party affiliation.

Methods of Selecting Presidential Delegates by State Which is most popular? Why??

2008 Open & Closed Primaries Virginia has a “modified open primary”

Iowa Caucus First major electoral event in the election process. Nationaljournal.com Iowa Caucus First major electoral event in the election process. Candidates campaign in Iowa months before the caucus Ads, paid staffers, and publicity is centered around the many precincts in Iowa The winner of the Iowa caucus has served as an indication of the person who will win their parties nomination

New Hampshire Primary First primary of election year Focused upon by candidates Media attention Early success in contests / must perform well to continue in race nhhistory.org

Importance of Early Caucuses and Primaries These states are small but play a big role They do not decide who IS the nominee for each party They decide who ISN’T the nominee. They significantly narrow the field of candidates Iowa New Hampshire Nevada South Carolina

SUPER TUESDAY In 2008, states realized that the sooner they go, the more say they have in who gets nominated. Both the Democrat and Republican Parties the earliest date for which a state can have its primary. Many states had their primaries on this date

SUPER TUESDAY This became known as SUPER TUESDAY. Most experts predicted that this date would decide the nominee early. This was not the case 2008: Hilary vs. Obama 2012: Romney vs. Santorum

Stage 2: Presidential Nominating Conventions Barack and Michelle Obama at the 2004 Democratic National Convention

Nominating Conventions An assembly held by political parties every four years Usually held in late summer before the general election in November George W. and Laura Bush at the 2000 Republican Convention

Purposes of Nominating Conventions 1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit, Michigan At the convention the party adopts a platform to unify support behind common goals. Delegates to the convention elect that party’s nominees for President and Vice-president.

What is a Party Platform? Platform - a statement of principles and objectives a political party and a candidate support Plank - Individual topics in a party’s platform (ex: abortion, war in Iraq)

Who are Delegates? Delegate - A voting representative to the party nominating convention

Winner-take-all System Delegate Selection Proportional System Primary system used by the Democratic Party Candidates get a % of delegates based on the popular vote Winner-take-all System System used in most Republican primaries The winner of the popular vote in that state receives all that state’s delegates Similar to electoral college

Convention Speeches: The Keynote Address The speech given at the convention that embodies that party’s core message Extremely important event – can propel a politicians career Do you know who gave the 2004 Keynote Address at the Democratic Convention???

Current President, (Then a Senator) Barrack Obama gives the 2004 DNC Keynote Address

The Acceptance Address 1960 presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon deliver their Acceptance Addresses at their party’s national convention Given at the final day of the convention - winning candidate formally accepts the party’s nomination for president Huge media event - Acceptance Address is always televised by the major networks

1992 Democratic National Convention in New York City Critics say that party nominating conventions have become nothing more than infomercials. What do you think?

Stage 3: General Election Candidates ACTIVELY campaign by… (Basically do ANYTHING that they think will get them more voters)

Raise money In the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama raised over $600 million dollars – more than any other candidate ever—most of it through small, single online donations

Run ads (TV, radio, mail, internet etc)

Participate in Debates

Hold rallies and give speeches

Fall Campaign After convention to Election Day Candidates travel from state to state (speaking, rallies fundraising, etc.) Focus on swing states (states that are contested) Run TV ads to increase name recognition, spread ideas, “mud-sling” Debates held against opponent (media attention, show “likeability”, appear presidential, etc.) thesoundsofhistory.com

Campaign Finance The McCain-Feingold Act (2002) sought to limit campaign corruption by limiting the amount of money that could be donated by individuals and organizations. Citizen’s United Decision (2010) struck down key limitations in McCain-Feingold allowing corporations and organizations to spend and donate unlimited money.

Campaign Finance At the beginning of the 2012 election season, many experts estimated that a candidate would need to raise $1 billion in order to run a successful campaign for the presidency. So far: Romney: $771.7 million Obama: $834.7 million

General Election Held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November November 2-8 Eligible citizens of the U.S. cast votes for the candidate of their choice for President. Popular vote winner in each state helps determine the electors who will cast the official vote in the Electoral College Time.com

Stage 4: Electoral College December – After General Election Distributes votes to states based upon # of senators & representatives State’s popular vote winner earns all Electoral votes of state Must earn majority (270) of Electoral votes to win election Map: 2012 distribution Used originally to “check” voters (uneducated & uniformed) census.gov

2012 Electoral College Numbers by state