Selecting a President:

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Selecting a President

• The Presidential Nomination and Election Process

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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?

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Stage 1 Caucuses
Barrack Obama campaigns in Iowa

• Closed meeting of party members in each state
  where party members get together to decide who
  they want to represent their party in the general
  election
• Currently used in only six states

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Stage 1 Caucuses
Hilary Clinton (D) and Rudy Guilliani (R)
campaigning in Iowa

• The Iowa Caucus is the first primary/caucus.
• Considering Iowa is a relatively small state, why
  are the Iowa caucuses so important??
• It is the first and largest in the modern
  presidential election cycle

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Stage 1 Primaries
Presidential Primary Elections - special
elections in which voters select candidates to be
the partys 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
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Closed Primary

• Voters may vote in a party's primary only if they
  are registered members of that party

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Open Primary

• A registered voter may vote in any party primary
  regardless of his or her own party affiliation.

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Methods of Selecting Presidential Delegates by
State
Which is most popular? Why??
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2008 Open Closed Primaries
Virginia has a modified open primary
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Stage 2 Presidential Nominating Conventions
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Nominating Conventions

• An assembly held by political parties every four
  years
• Usually held in late summer before the general
  election in November

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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 partys
   nominees for President and Vice-president.

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What is a Party Platform?

• Platform - a statement of principles and
  objectives a political party and a candidate
  support
• Plank - Individual topics in a partys platform
  (ex abortion, war in Iraq)

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Who are Delegates?

• Delegate - A voting representative to the party
  nominating convention

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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 states delegates
• Similar to electoral college

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Democratic Party RulesTwo Types of Delegates
Pledged Delegates v. Superdelegates
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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
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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 (dont have to listen to the popular
  vote in their state)

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Superdelegates
By John Trever, The Albuquerque Journal
03/30/2008 http//www.politicalcartoons.com/
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Convention Speeches The Keynote
Address

• The speech given at the convention that embodies
  that partys core message
• Extremely important event can propel a
  politicians career
• Do you know who gave the 2004 Keynote Address at
  the Democratic Convention???

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Current President, (Then a Senator) Barrack Obama
gives the 2004 DNC Keynote Address
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The Acceptance Address
1960 presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and
Richard M. Nixon deliver their Acceptance
Addresses at their partys national convention

• Given at the final day of the convention -
  winning candidate formally accepts the partys
  nomination for president
• Huge media event - Acceptance Address is always
  televised by the major networks

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Critics say that party nominating conventions
have become nothing more than infomercials.
1992 Democratic National Convention in New York
City
What do you think?
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Stage 3 General Election

• Candidates ACTIVELY campaign by
• (Basically do ANYTHING that they think will get
  them more voters)

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Raise money
Barack Obama raised over 600 million dollars
more than any other candidate ever
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Run ads (TV, radio, mail, internet etc)
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Participate in Debates
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Hold rallies and give speeches
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Presidential Nomination/Election Process Pamphlet

• Create a pamphlet detailing the Presidential
  Nomination/Election Process
• Be sure to make it colorful and include at least
  one picture on each page.