1 / 9

Electing a president

Electing a president. teacherweb.com/CA/.../ Ponsi / 8 - steps-to-electing -the- president .ppt. Step One: Organize and Planning. Official Constitutional Requirements Three requirements Age: 35 Citizenship: Natural born citizen Residency: Resident of US for last 14 years.

makani
Download Presentation

Electing a president

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Electing a president teacherweb.com/CA/.../Ponsi/8-steps-to-electing-the-president.ppt

  2. Step One: Organize and Planning • Official Constitutional Requirements • Three requirements • Age: 35 • Citizenship: Natural born citizen • Residency: Resident of US for last 14 years

  3. STEP 2: State Caucuses and Primaries • Caucuses • Purpose: Small meetings, where people come together to select delegates • First state: Iowa • Importance: as we have seen, Iowa can give a huge boost to a candidate (Obama) or force people out of the race early (Biden and Dodd)) • Primaries • State elections with in a party to get delegates support at the national convention • 3 kinds: open, closed and binding • First state: New Hampshire • Importance: weeds out candidates, proves who can win and where

  4. STEP 3: Win Nomination at Convention • Purpose of convention: Choose party’s candidate • Where do we hold the convention: Big electoral state • Why: Get media exposure for party and candidate • What is the Platform Committee: Writes rules for convention and writes the party’s stance on current issues (that is voted on by delegates) • Significance of the Keynote address: kicks off convention, sets tone and exposes an “up and coming star” of the party • Selection of the Nominee: as many ballots as it takes to get the majority support of delegates • Acceptance speeches: Accepts Picks the VP running mate • Call for unity: get the party faithful fired up for the Fall election

  5. STEP 4: Campaign against other Parties • Formal start of the campaign : Kick off is the Labor Day weekend: the beginning of September; 8 weeks to package the candidate • Time constraints: Campaign needs to decide its strategy for winning the elections; where to campaign, how to spend resources; swing states are states that can “swing” the election because they have more electoral votes or independent voters that can be swayed to vote for either party • Use of Media: Decide how and where to spend money; ads, radio, talk shows, TV • Debates: A candidatehas to decide if (s )he will participate; if so when, where, the format.

  6. STEP 5: General Election • Day America votes: Presidential electionsare always the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November; every four years; always in even number years • Voting: goes on all day and polls close at 8:00pm • Exit Polls: gets info about how people voted as they exit the polling place • Media Coverage: As the east coast polls close, broadcasting the outcome can affect the west where the polls are still opened

  7. STEP 6: Electoral College • Electoral System: the people who really elect the president • Number of electoral votes needed to win: 270 • Electoral votes by state: number of representatives and+ 2 senators = electors • Vote: Each states sends electors from the winning party to the capitol to vote for president on the first Monday after the 2nd Wed. in December • Plurality vs. majority: Most popular vote vs 50% +1 • Problems with the system: Popular vote doesn’t win; electors aren’t obligated to vote any one way; messy system if no one gets 270 electoral votes

  8. STEP 7: Transition Period • Lameduck President: Outgoing president • President elect: Briefed by appropriate government agencies • Secret service protection: Full time police protection for president and family • Transition: Cabinet selected, inaugural address written; starts putting the staff in place. An office and staff is provided by the government

  9. STEP 8: Inauguration • When: January 20th • Oath of office: Sworn in by Supreme Court Justice; gives the inaugural speech to inspire the country, Parade, if weather permits, the president and family walks down Pennsylvania Ave., assumes the job • Inaugural Ball: There are many parties that take place that night; corporate sponsors; the president and VP and spouses go and make an appearance at all of them.

More Related