Nom, nom, nom…ination
Chapter 9
Get Pumped!
 http://www.quia.com/quiz/768980.html?AP_rand
=809913705
The pressures of running
 http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/vid
eo/mr-romney-hard-runningpresident-15255939
 Presidential candidates tend to run
out of money before they choose to
stop running for President
 Jan 2012 : $226 millions
 2008 : collectively about $2 billion
 8 major candidates dropped out of
the 2012 race
National Convention
 National Party convention: meets every four years
to determine who will run for President.
 Formerly controlled by party “Bosses”
 Usually leaders of big cities
 Determined who attended and who they voted for.
 1968 Democratic Convention
 http://www.history.com/videos/violence-batters1968-democratic-convention - chicago-sevenconspiracy-trial
1968 Democratic
Convention
 The methods to select a presidential
Candidate were considered elite,
and disenfranchised common
voters.
 McGovern-Fraser Commission:
created in response to the
convention to better decide how to
represent voters when selecting
candidates.
 The result?!
 Caucuses
 Primaries
Spicing things up
 Superdelegates: delegates who are
guaranteed a say in the Presidential
candidate regardless of voter
opinion.
 Surviving elitist portion of
conventions
 Why is this bad?
 Undermines voter decision-making
 Disconnected from public opinion.
Two Choices
 Caucus: Voters must show up at a set time and
express their Presidential preference.
 States that choose these are mostly rural
 Primaries: Voters go to the polls and express their
preference for President.
 Two types
 Open Primary – don’t have to declare a party to
participate
 Closed Primary – have to identify with a party
 All occur between Jan-June of election year
Get on up (or stay seated,
whichever)
 Identify possible problems that can be caused by
caucuses and primaries.
 Hint: Think about how large our voter turnout is
 You’re running for President! How would you get
voters out to the polls?
 Decide where you spend most of your campaign
money.
 Slamming same party
 Saving for ads while President
99 Problems
 Problems with Caucuses and
Primaries
 Disproportionate attention goes to the early
caucuses and primaries
 Prominent politicians find it difficult to take
time out from their duties to run
 Money plays too big a role in the caucuses
and primaries
 Participation in primaries and caucuses is
low and unrepresentative
 The system gives too much power to the
media
Campaign Travels
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpsrv/special/politics/2012-presidential-campaignvisits/
 National primary: propose to replace current system
with a nationwide primary.
 Pros: Directness for voters and candidates, votes in all
states of equal importance, lessen importance of
media.
 Cons: Americans have to vote twice in primaries, and
once in November for President, nominee would only
receive small margins (25% of vote)
Regional Primary
 Regional Primary: Primaries held in various regions
at different times. (Eastern, then Central, then
Western etc.)
 Pros: more rational structure on candidate travel, an
end to focusing on states for attention in primaries.
 Cons: Advantage gained by whichever region goes
first