What is . . .
The Republican Candidates
Ron Paul
Rick Santorum
Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich
Super Tuesday
• It is the day when the greatest number
of states (10) hold primary elections to
select delegates to national conventions
where each party’s presidential
candidates are officially nominated.
Primary Election
• The purpose of a primary election is to narrow
down the candidates who want to be President.
• Voters use a secret ballot to select delegates.
• In an open primary, registered voters,
regardless of their party affiliation, can vote in
any party primary they choose.
• In a closed primary, voters must declare a party
affiliation and can only vote in that primary.
• Over 40 states and territories and the District
of Columbia use primaries.
Caucuses
• Party members and party leaders meet to
select delegates and usually must
demonstrate their support for a presidential
candidate by public declaration.
• Caucuses are often used in combination with
a state convention to elect delegates to the
national convention.
• 15 states and territories use caucuses.
Delegate Selection
• Party members in each state select
delegates to go to the national conventions
to represent their choices for presidential
candidates.
• The candidate who obtains a majority of
delegate votes at that party’s convention
receives the party’s nomination.
National Convention
• Each party holds a convention during the
summer and chooses the one candidate that
they’ll support in November running for
President.
Electoral College
• The first candidate to reach 270 electoral
votes becomes President.
• On election day, we really vote for people
called electors, who then vote for the
President.
• The electors are chosen from the
Primaries.
• History of Electoral College Vote
http://www.cspanclassroom.org/pdf/Electo
ralCollegeHistory.pdf
Electors
• Each state is allocated a number of Electors
equal to the number of its Senators and the
number of U.S. Representatives.
• The political parties in each State submit a
list of individuals pledged to their candidate
for president.
• The major political parties select these
individuals at their State party conventions
or through appointment by their State party
leaders.
Electors
• On the Monday following the second Weds.
of Dec. each State’s Electors meet in their
State capitals and cast their electoral votes.
• The electoral votes are sealed and sent to
the President of the Senate who opens them
and reads them on Jan. 6th.
• The candidate for president with the most
electoral votes is declared president.
• http://www.classbrain.com/artteensb/publis
h/electoral_college.shtml
2012 Presidential Candidate
Positions on 45 Issues
• http://2012election.procon.org/
• http://2012election.procon.org/view.sourcesummary-chart.php
Understanding Caucuses
and Primaries
• http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/studentne
ws/01/03/one.sheet.caucus.primary/