1. Selecting a President 2016:
Primaries & Caucuses

2. 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?

3. Stage 1: Caucuses Closed meeting of party members in each state
Delegates select the party’s choice for presidential candidate
Currently, six states offer party caucuses selecting presidential nominees.

4. 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
Senator Marco Rubio campaigning in New Hampshire

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

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

8. Map of 2012 Primary & Caucus Dates
States with split colors have different systems for Democrats and Republicans. The color on the left represents the Democratic method, the color on the right represents the Republican method.

9. Hajo De Reijger- www.caglecartoons.com
What advantage does the democratic party have in the 2012 election process?

11. Selecting a President:
Nominating Conventions

12. 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?

13. Presidential Nominating Conventions: The Nuts & Bolts
Barack and Michelle Obama at the 2004 Democratic National Convention

14. Nominating Conventions
An assembly held by political parties every four years
Usually held in late summer before the general election in November
The Democratic and Republican parties hold nominating conventions as do third parties [ex: Green Party, Libertarian Party]
George W. and Laura Bush at the Republican Convention

15. Purposes of Nominating Conventions
1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit, Michigan
Delegates at the convention adopt a party platform.
Delegates to the convention elect that party’s nominees for President and Vice-president.

16. What’s a Party Platform?
Party Platform - a statement of principles and objectives a political party and a candidate supports in order to win the general election.
Plank - Individual topics in a party’s platform (ex: abortion, war in Iraq)
Cartoon satirizing the 1896 Democratic Party Platform

17. 2004 Platform Themes Democratic Party:
“Strong at Home, Respected in the World”
Republican Party:
“A Safer World and a More Hopeful America”
How are these themes similar?
Different?

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

19. Winner-take-all System
Delegate Selection
Proportional System
Primary system used by the Democratic Party
Candidates are allocated the same percentage of a state’s delegates as they received in popular votes
Pro’s & con’s of the proportional system?
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
Pro’s & con’s of the winner-take-all system?

20. Democratic Party Rules: Two Types of Delegates
Pledged Delegates v. Superdelegates

21. Pledged delegates count during the 2008 Democratic primaries
Each state allotted certain number of delegates who vote at the party’s convention
Pledged delegates are chosen at state & local level
Pledged delegates are required to cast a vote at the convention based on the results of the primary or caucus in their state
Pledged delegates count during the 2008 Democratic primaries

22. Superdelegates
Members of the Democratic Party establishment who serve as unpledged delegates at the party convention
Include members of Congress, governors, and members of the D.N.C.
They are free to vote for any candidate at the convention

23. Convention Speeches: The Keynote Address
Senator Barrack Obama gives the DNC Keynote Address
The speech given at the convention that embodies that party’s core message
Why do you think Democrats choose Barrack Obama to deliver the 2004 Keynote Addresses?

24. Convention Speeches: The Acceptance Address
1960 presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon deliver their Acceptance Addresses at their party’s national convention
The speech given at the final day of the convention in which the winning candidate formally accepts the party’s nomination for president
The Acceptance Address is always televised by the major networks