Selecting a President:
The Presidential Nomination and
Election Process
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?
Announcing candidacy &
organizing
• Candidates officially
enter the “race” to the
Presidency
• Campaign is organized
for upcoming events:
– Network of
workers/volunteers
(phone calls,
publicity, planners,
etc.)
– Accounts created for
future fundraising
abcnews.go.com
Pre-primary fundraising,
campaigning, and debating
• Candidates begin
fundraising for the
upcoming spring
primary/caucus season
• Campaigning for the
party primary/caucus is
in full swing during this
time
• Debates will be held
between the main
contenders
washingtonpost.com
Stage 1: Caucuses
Barrack Obama campaigns in Iowa
 Closed meeting of party members in each state
 Delegates select the party’s choice for
presidential candidate
 Currently used in only six states
Stage 1: Caucuses
Hilary Clinton (D) and Rudy Guilliani (R)
campaigning in Iowa
The Iowa Caucus is the first primary/caucus and last
year was held on January 3, 2008.
Considering Iowa is a relatively small state, why are
the Iowa caucuses so important??
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
Mitt Romney campaigning in New Hampshire
Closed Primary
• Voters may vote in a party's primary only if
they are registered members of that party
Open Primary
• A registered
voter may vote
in any party
primary
regardless of
his or her own
party
affiliation.
Methods of Selecting Presidential Delegates by State
Which is most popular? Why??
2008 Open & Closed Primaries
Virginia has a “modified open primary”
Iowa Caucus
Nationaljournal.c
om
• First major electoral event
in the election process.
• Candidates campaign in Iowa months
before the caucus
– Ads, paid staffers, and publicity is
centered around the many precincts in
Iowa
• The winner of the Iowa caucus has
served as an indication of the person
who will win their parties nomination
New
Hampshire
Primary
• First primary of
election year
• Focused upon by
candidates
– Media attention
– Early success in
contests / must
perform well to
continue in race
nhhistory.org
Importance of Early Caucuses
and Primaries
• These states are
small but play a big
role
• They do not decide
who IS the nominee
for each party
• They decide who
ISN’T the nominee.
• They significantly
narrow the field of
candidates
•
•
•
•
Iowa
New Hampshire
Nevada
South Carolina
SUPER TUESDAY
• In 2008, states realized
that the sooner they
go, the more say they
have in who gets
nominated.
• Both the Democrat and
Republican Parties the
earliest date for which
a state can have its
primary.
• Many states had their
primaries on this date
SUPER TUESDAY
• This became known
as SUPER
TUESDAY.
• Most experts
predicted that this
date would decide
the nominee early.
• This was not the
case
– 2008: Hilary vs.
Obama
– 2012: Romney vs.
Santorum
Stage 2: Presidential Nominating
Conventions
Barack and Michelle Obama at the 2004 Democratic National Convention
Nominating Conventions
• An assembly
held by political
parties every
four years
• Usually held in
late summer
before the
general election
in November
George W. and Laura Bush at the
2000 Republican Convention
Purposes of Nominating Conventions
1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit, Michigan
1. At the convention the party adopts a platform
to unify support behind common goals.
2. Delegates to the convention elect that party’s
nominees for President and Vice-president.
What is a Party Platform?
• Platform - a statement of
principles and objectives a
political party and a candidate
support
• Plank - Individual topics in a
party’s platform (ex: abortion,
war in Iraq)
Who are Delegates?
Delegate - A voting representative to
the party nominating convention
Delegate Selection
Proportional
System
Primary system used
by the Democratic
Party
Candidates get a % of
delegates based on
the popular vote
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
Similar to electoral
college
Democratic Party Rules:
Two Types of Delegates
Pledged Delegates v. Superdelegates
Pledged Delegates
 Pledged
delegates are
required to
vote at the
convention
based on the
popular vote
in their state
 (they have to
listen to the
people)
Pledged delegates count during the 2008 Democratic primaries
Superdelegates
 Members of the
Democratic Party
establishment
who serve as
unpledged (??)
delegates at the
party convention
 They are free to
vote for any
candidate at the
convention (don’t
have to listen to
the popular vote
in their state)
Superdelegates
By John Trever, The Albuquerque Journal 03/30/2008 http://www.politicalcartoons.com/
Convention Speeches:
The Keynote Address
 The speech given at the
convention that embodies that
party’s core message
 Extremely important event – can
propel a politicians career
 Do you know who gave the 2004
Keynote Address at the Democratic
Convention???
Current President, (Then a Senator)
Barrack Obama gives the 2004 DNC
Keynote Address
The Acceptance Address
1960 presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon deliver
their Acceptance Addresses at their party’s national convention
 Given at the final day of the convention winning candidate formally accepts the
party’s nomination for president
 Huge media event - Acceptance Address is always
televised by the major networks
1992 Democratic National Convention in New York City
Critics say that party nominating conventions
have become nothing more than infomercials.
What do you think?
Stage 3: General Election
• Candidates ACTIVELY campaign by…
• (Basically do ANYTHING that they think
will get them more voters)
Raise money
In the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama raised
over $600 million dollars – more than any
other candidate ever—most of it through
small, single online donations
Run ads
(TV, radio, mail, internet etc)
Participate in Debates
Hold rallies and give speeches
Fall Campaign
After convention to Election Day
• Candidates travel
from state to state
(speaking, rallies
fundraising, etc.)
• Focus on swing
states (states that are
contested)
• Run TV ads to
increase name
recognition, spread
ideas, “mud-sling”
• Debates held against
opponent (media
attention, show
“likeability”, appear
presidential, etc.)
thesoundsofhistory.com
Campaign Finance
• The McCain-Feingold Act (2002) sought
to limit campaign corruption by limiting
the amount of money that could be
donated by individuals and
organizations.
• Citizen’s United Decision (2010) struck
down key limitations in McCain-Feingold
allowing corporations and organizations
to spend and donate unlimited money.
Campaign Finance
• At the beginning of the 2012 election
season, many experts estimated that a
candidate would need to raise $1 billion
in order to run a successful campaign
for the presidency.
• So far:
• Romney: $771.7 million
• Obama: $834.7 million
General Election
• Held on the
Tuesday after the
first Monday in
November
– November 2-8
• Eligible citizens of
the U.S. cast votes
for the candidate of
their choice for
President.
• Popular vote winner
in each state helps
determine the
electors who will
cast the official vote
in the Electoral
College
Time.com
Stage 4: Electoral College
We’ll talk about it in
more detail
Electoral College
December – After General Election
• Distributes votes to states based upon # of senators
& representatives
• State’s popular vote winner earns all Electoral votes
of state
• Must earn majority (270) of Electoral votes to win
election
• Map: 2012 distribution
• Used originally to
“check” voters (uneducated
& uniformed)
census.gov