Nominations and Campaigns Chapter 10

How does a candidate gain a party’s nomination for President? Nomination  Official endorsement of a candidate for office by a political party Candidate chosen for a few reasons:  Momentum  Money  Media Attention

Are presidential campaigns too long? Candidates for POTUS announce they are running office almost two years before the election!  Is this too long?  When did Barack Obama begin his campaign for POTUS?

What happens after everyone says they are running for POTUS? We hold elections 2 types:  Primary elections State elections held before the Political parties national conventions  One goal = determine the candidates for each party!  **This takes place the year before the general election.  Caucuses state citizens meet to vote on who their state will nominate for each political party.  Used to be just state representatives who voted in caucuses

Why do Primaries matter? It eliminates weak competition.  Nomination game is an elimination contest  Goal is to win: Majority system  Candidate needs 50.1% to win Plurality system  Candidate needs more votes than everyone else  Does not have to be 50%  Whoever gets the most states to vote for them wins the party nomination!

How is the caucus different from the primary? 2 differences: 2 Types of Primaries:  Open Primary  Open to any voter as long as they register for that political party before they vote  Closed Primary  Open only to registered political party members  Can not register day of election 2 Types of Caucus:  Open  Anyone can participate  Closed  Only registered party members Iowa is First However they go, so does the nation!

Second Difference….the way they vote. Primary Election Caucus Election

What are some problems with the primary and caucus system? Disproportionate attention to early primaries  Iowa  New Hampshire Money plays too big a role. Participation in primaries and caucuses is low  20% vote in primaries

So what happens after the primaries? We are off to the Party conventions.  Held to nominate a candidate for each political party.  National conventions provide great drama. Sometimes leads to duels…  Hamilton vs. Burr  Significant rallying point for parties  Presidential nominee gives rallying speech. Talks about party platform  Party’s position on issues of the day.

Burr vs. Hamilton… _2.html _2.html

2008 Democratic National Convention

2008 Republican National Convention

Next Come the Debates…

We are off to election day…