1. Selecting a President:
Nominating Conventions

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

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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?

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

9. 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
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

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

11. 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

12. 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

13. Convention Speeches: The Keynote Address
Senator Barrack Obama gives the DNC Keynote Address
Democrat Zell Miller delivers the RNC Keynote Address
The speech given at the convention that embodies that party’s core message

14. 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

15. 1992 Democratic National Convention in New York City
Critics say that party nominating conventions have become no more than infomercials.
What do you think?

16. Don’t Stop…the Campaign Song
Bill Clinton 1992 National Convention
Questions for discussion:
Using the lyrics, identify possible ways Clinton is trying to connect to the voters.
What demographic groups is the Clinton campaign trying to appeal to with this song?
What campaign song would you choose for Obama/McCain?

17. 1920 Republican Convention
Today candidates secure their party’s nomination during the primaries
But in 1920 there was no clear nominee going into the Republican Convention

18. Schwarzenegger Rocks Republican Convention
By Patrick Chappatte, The International Herald Tribune  09/21/

19. The Final Three
By Paresh Nath, National Herald, New Delhi, India 3/17/08

20. Superdelegates
By John Trever, The Albuquerque Journal 03/30/