Interactive Notes:
How were candidates chosen in the
past?
Timeline
I. Announcement
Evaluate chances of
winning
Exploratory Committees
filing with the FEC
Timeframe: 2012 election
has started already.
2008 Election – Who were the
Republican choices?
Rudy Giuliani – Former mayor of New York
City
John McCain – US Senator - Arizona
Ron Paul-Congressman-Texas
Mike Huckabee – former Governor - Arkansas
Mitt Romney – Massachusetts Governor
Sam Brownback – US Senator - Kansas
Duncan Hunter-Congressman-California
Fred Thompson-former Senator-Tennessee
Tom Tancredo-Congressmen-Colorado
2008 Election – Who will be our
Democrat choices?
• Hillary Rodham Clinton – US Senate – New
York
• Barack Obama – US Senate – Illinois
• John Edwards – Former North Carolina
Senator
• Joe Biden – US Senate - Delaware
• Bill Richardson – Governor of New Mexico
• Dennis Kucinch-Congressman-Ohio
• Mike Gravel-former US Senator-Alaska
• Chris Dodd-US Senate-Connecticut
2012
For Democrats – It’s easy…..
Barack Obama…………….
Republicans – They still have to decide…
and there are a lot of choices…..
Michelle Bachman –
US Rep from Minnesota
Herman Cain
Businessman, Politician & Media
Thaddeus McCotter –
US Rep from Michigan
John Huntsman
Former Gov of Utah & Ambassador
To China
Tom Miller –
Career Flight Attendant
Rick Perry –
Current Governor of Texas
Buddy Roemer –
Former Gov of Louisiana
Vern Wuensche
Businessman
Fred Karger – Political
Consultant and Gay
Rights Activist
Mitt Romney –
Former Gov from Mass.
Newt Gingrich
Former Speaker of the
House
Jimmy McMillan
Andy Martin
Ron Paul –
US Rep from Texas
Rick Santorum – Former
US Senator from Penn.
Gary Johnson
Former Gov of New
Mexico
How is it done in Texas?
National Convention
State Convention
County Convention
Precinct Convention
Primary (Election)
II. Primaries – (Jan – June) of
election year.
•
Candidate selection process
by narrowing the field of
candidates within a party.
• States may use a
primary, a caucus or some
combination. States conduct
federal elections because of
FEDERALISM!
What is the difference in
a primary and a caucus?
• Primary-election between 2 or
more candidates of the same
party
• Caucus-town hall type meeting
where party candidates are
chosen
1968 Democratic National Convention
• McGovern-Fraser
Commission
Photo from npr.org
McGovern-Fraser Commission
• Designed to make delegate selection process in the
Democratic Party “open, timely, and
representative.”
• Major changes
• Delegates chosen through primary or caucus open to all
Democrats in state.
• Delegates are not “winner-take-all.” (Not necessarily true for
Republicans).
• Delegates became more representative (i.e. more women and
minorities).
• Drawbacks?
• Some argue newer candidates are less “electable.”
• Less effective politicians (Jimmy Carter as the example).
• Changed the drama of conventions
• While McGovern-Fraser specifically dealt with
Democratic party, most of the changes were later
adopted by Republicans.
Types of
Primaries
Open Primary
Closed Primary
Problems? Advantages?
The increase in primaries
The primary and caucus system
• Key Events:
• Iowa caucuses
• New Hampshire Primary
• Super Tuesday
• Frontloading: holding primaries early
to try to capture attention and $ for
your state
• Who are superdelegates?
III. National Convention
Purpose:
-To nominate the presidential and
vice presidential nominees for the
party
-To approve the party platform
Facts:
- Each party holds a separate
convention towards the end of the
summer
Party Platforms
2008 Platform Activity – we’ll come back
to this 
- the individual with the majority
of delegate votes becomes the
presidential nominee
- the nominee now runs against
the other party’s nominee
IV. Campaign
(Labor day – November)
- Democrat v. Republican
- Incumbents (advantage or
disadvantage) ?
V. General Election
Election Day
First Tuesday after the first Monday
in November in even numbered years
Next election – 2012
We will vote for many different offices
at all levels of government.
Australian Ballot Characteristics
1.
2.
3.
4.
secret
Uniform
printed at government expense
includes all candidates and issues
Electing a President
• Popular Vote - The vote of the people,
this is important but will NOT
determine who wins.
• Voters have a choice of Republican
and Democrat Presidential and Vice
Presidential nominees.
Electoral College
Electoral vote - the vote that actually
elects the President
# of votes a state receives =
House of Representatives
+ Senate=
electors
Winner Take All System
Whoever wins the popular vote gets all
38 electoral votes.
38 Republican
Electors
38 Democrat
Electors
Size of Electoral college
435 House of Representatives
100 Senators
3 Washington DC (23rd Amendment)
_____
538 Total # of electors
# needed to become President
Simple majority of
538 = 270
DANGER
…. A candidate may win the popular
vote, yet lose the election…. HOW?
Popular Vote vs. Electoral Vote
STATES
POPULAR
VOTE
Florida
2,912,790 Bush
2,912,253 Gore
Iowa
634,373
638,517
286,417
286,783
New Mexico
Oregon
Total
Bush
Gore
Bush
Gore
713,577 Bush
720,342 Gore
4,547,157 Bush
4,557,895 Gore
ELECTORAL
VOTE
25
7
5
7
Bush
Gore
25
19
DANGER – Has it happened?
• YES – it has….
• 1876 Tilden v. Hayes –
Tilden had more popular votes.
• 1888 Cleveland v. Harrison - Cleveland had
more popular votes.
• 2000 Gore v. Bush – Gore had more
popular votes.
What if no one receives a majority?
House of Representatives will
choose the new President – each
state gets one vote.
Senate will choose the new Vice
President – each Senator has a
vote.
Red and Blue States
Purple States
Swing States
Debating the E.C.
Arguments against
1. Can win the popular
vote and lose the
election.
2. Certain states get
ignored.
3. Biased towards small
states, violates 1
person 1 vote.
4. Biased against third
parties.
5. Faithless electors
Arguments in favor
1. Imagine Florida in
2000, times 50.
2. Prevents candidates
from running up votes
in one area of the
country.
3. Protects the power of
the states in a federal
system.
Current Limits on Voting
• Citizenship
• Residence – varies by state (10-30
days)
• Age – 18 yrs old
• Registration
• Mental Institution patients cannot
vote
• People convicted of felonies are
not allowed to vote
Understanding primaries
• Most state parties felt primaries were easiest way to
implement McGovern-Fraser provisions.
• In 2004, 35 states had primaries and 15 had caucuses.
• Primaries are elections between candidates of the
same party, vying for a party’s nomination in the
general election.
• In Democratic presidential primaries, any candidate who
gets 15% of the vote or more gets proportionate share of
delegates per district.
• Republicans in each state can choose proportional or
winner-take-all.
• Democratic Party v LaFollette(1982): mandatory primaries
are unconstitutional
• Open and Closed primaries