Party Nominations

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Party Nominations

• American Political Parties
• Prof. Wolbrecht
• 2 February 2009

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Nomination procedures

• Two separate procedures
• State parties choose their nominees for
  state-level office Senate, House, governor,
  state House and Senate
• All chosen by primary (or in a few cases,
  convention) in all 50 states
• State parties choose their delegates to the
  parties national conventions
• Some chosen by primary, some by caucus

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(No Transcript)
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Presidential Primaries, 1968-2008
Source Hershey 2009
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Presidential delegate selection

• Caucuses open meetings of partisans
• Primaries election of nominees (delegates)
• Types
• Closed declare PID before receive ballot of
  that party
• Open do not have to record a PID
• Blanket ballot contains all candidates

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NASS Rotating Primaries Plan
Source nass.org
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Nomination Process Front-loading

• Do well early, attract
• Early states have a disproportionate impact
• Result increased front-loading
• Problems
• Natl Assoc. of Secretaries of State proposal
• Group states by region
• Lottery to determine order 1st year, then rotate
• IA and NH retain leading positions
• Regions 1st Tuesday, March, April, May, June
• Goal 2012