The Presidential Nomination Process: Primaries, Caucuses, and Conventions

1. The Presidential Nomination and Election Process Selecting a President:

2. Presidential Selection • Stage 1: Caucuses & PrimariesThe 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?

3. Why Primaries and Caucases? • Turn and Talk • We have watched parts of the Democratic and Republican debates. Why then, if we have these televised debates, do we feel the need to have statewide primaries and caucuses?

4. 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

5. Money Raised to Date…. • Hillary Rodham Clinton raised $29.9 million for her campaign in the third quarter, just ahead of Bernie Sanders, who raised $26.2 million. • Total Raised by Campaigns in the Third Quarter (in Millions) • 1 Hillary Clinton $29.9 • 2 Bernie Sanders 26.2 • 3 Ben Carson 20.8 • 4 Jeb Bush 13.4 • 5 Ted Cruz 12.2

6. 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

7. Stage 1: Caucuses • Closed meeting of party members in each state • Delegates select the party’s choice for presidential candidate • Currently used in only six states Barrack Obama campaigns in Iowa

8. Stage 1: Caucuses The Iowa Caucus is the first primary/caucus - Date for the Iowa Caucus is February 1, 2016 Considering Iowa is a relatively small state, why are the Iowa caucuses so important?? Hilary Clinton (D) and Rudy Guilliani (R) campaigning in Iowa

10. Presidential Primary Elections - special elections in which voters select candidates to be the party’s nominee for president in the general election. Stage 1: Primaries • 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

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

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

13. Methods of Selecting Presidential Delegates by State Which is most popular? Why??

14. 2016 Open & Closed Primaries Virginia has a “modified open primary”

15. Nationaljournal.com Iowa Caucus • 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

16. New Hampshire Primary • First primary of election year • February 9, 2016 • Focused upon by candidates • Media attention • Early success in contests / must perform well to continue in race nhhistory.org

17. Other Important Dates • February 20 – Nevada Caucases • February 27 – South Carolina Primary • March 1 – June 14 – All other states • Pennsylvania Specifically – Tuesday April 26 nhhistory.org

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. Barack and Michelle Obama at the 2004 Democratic National Convention Stage 2: Presidential Nominating Conventions

22. George W. and Laura Bush at the 2000 Republican Convention Nominating Conventions • An assembly held by political parties every four years • Usually held in late summer before the general election in November

23. George W. and Laura Bush at the 2000 Republican Convention Nominating Conventions • Democratic Convention 2016 • Week of July 25 • Philadelphia, PA • Republican Convention 2016 • July 18-21 • Cleveland, OH

24. Purposes of Nominating Conventions • At the convention the party adopts a platform to unify support behind common goals. • Delegates to the convention elect that party’s nominees for President and Vice-president. 1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit, Michigan

25. 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)

26. Who are Delegates? Delegate - A voting representative to the party nominating convention

27. 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 Delegate Selection

28. Democratic Party Rules:Two Types of Delegates Pledged Delegates v. Superdelegates

29. 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 Pledged delegates count during the 2008 Democratic primaries

30. 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

31. Superdelegates By John Trever, The Albuquerque Journal 03/30/2008 http://www.politicalcartoons.com/

32. 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 2012 Keynote Address at the Democratic Convention??? Convention Speeches: The Keynote Address

33. Mayor Julian Castro, San Antonio Texas – Hispanic – Youngest mayor of top 50 cities

34. Governor Chris Christie – New Jersey Governor of New Jersey Republican Convention Keynote Speaker

35. 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 The Acceptance Address 1960 presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon deliver their Acceptance Addresses at their party’s national convention

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

37. Stage 3: General Election • Candidates ACTIVELY campaign by… • (Basically do ANYTHING that they think will get them more voters)

38. 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

39. Run ads (TV, radio, mail, internet etc)

40. Participate in Debates

41. Hold rallies and give speeches

42. Fall CampaignAfter 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

43. 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.

44. 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

45. 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

46. Stage 4: Electoral College • We’ll talk about it in more detail

47. The Electoral College Political Science Module Developed by PQE

48. True or False? Political Science Module Developed by PQE The candidate with the most votes is elected president. Answer: Not necessarily. Ask Al Gore.

49. The 2000 Election Political Science Module Developed by PQE The Popular Vote Al Gore 50,996,039 George W. Bush 50,456,141 The Electoral Vote George W. Bush 271 Al Gore 267

50. Historical Background Political Science Module Developed by PQE • The framers of the Constitution disagreed on how to elect a president • Congressional selection • direct popular election. • The electoral college was a compromise • combining features of both approaches.