Nominations and Campaigns Chapter 7.3

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?

2004 Democratic National Convention

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 representatives meet to vote on who their state will nominate for each political party.

Why do Primaries matter? It eliminates weak competition.  Nomination game is an elimination contest  Goal is to win a majority of votes.  Whoever gets the most states to vote for them wins the party nomination!

How is the caucus different from the primary? Competing for Delegates  The Caucus Road Caucus: meetings of state party leaders for selecting delegates to the national convention Not a public vote! Iowa is First However they go, so does the nation!

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.  Significant rallying point for parties  Presidential nominee gives rallying speech. Talks about party platform  Party’s position on issues of the day.

2008 Democratic National Convention

2008 Republican National Convention

Next Come the Debates…

We are off to election day…