The Election Process

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The Election Process
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Running for President

• The formal campaign has 3 stages
• The Nomination
• The Convention
• The General Election

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How to get on the Ballot

• Primary or Caucus
• Major Parties
• Petition
• Independents and third parties

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The Nomination

• Nomination by Petition
• -It is possible to get on the ballots without a
  party backing you.
• As few as 200 signatures to get on the ballot.
• As much as 3 of registered voters
• In Washington State, that meant 72,784 voters.

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• MAJOR NOMINATION
• When running for President, you must first win
  the nomination of your party before you can get
  on the ballot.
• The decision of when to start campaigning varies.
  Early decisions are increasingly necessary.

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To Get a Major Nomination

• Primary Campaign
• Build a personal organization - Networking,
  serving in civic causes and on committees,
  helping other candidates.
• Hire Managers - buy TV ads, conduct polls, raise
  money.
• Visibility is 1- Mentioned in the media, public
  appearances, hand shaking and door-to-door
  campaigning.

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The Nomination

• Primaries- elections within the party to choose
  favorite candidate from that party.
• Open primary- any registered voter can vote
  Texas has an open primary system (it doesnt
  matter what party you belong to)
• Closed primary- only declared party members can
  vote - it discourages raiding.
• Wide open primary-no parties are listed on the
  ballot.

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The Nomination

• Caucuses- Town Hall meeting format. Candidates
  and issues are discussed and voted on in private
  until the group determines an individual nominee
  at that time it is announced publicly.

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The Nomination

• Voters in Iowa (caucus) and New Hampshire
  (primary) bask in media attention because they
  cast their ballots first this has the effect of
  limiting choices of other voters in states who
  hold their primaries later in the process.

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Against the Primary System

• ? Disproportionate attention goes to the early
  caucuses and primaries
• Rural, low minority numbers, more liberal
• ? Causes disunity competition within the party
• ? Time Required
• ? Money plays a gigantic role - early quitters
  were unable to raise money quick enough.
• ? Participation is low and unrepresentative
• 50 in November, 20 in primaries, 5 in caucus
• ? Too much power given to the media
• Influence who has the momentum at any given
  moment
• The press labels candidates winners and losers.

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In Favor of the Primaries

• Opens the nominating process to more voters than
  do the caucus or convention methods.
• Opportunity to judge candidates abilities to
• Organize a campaign,
• Communicate through the media,
• Stand up against pressure,
• Public speaking and crisis control
• Appeal to the needs of different regions and
  groups

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The Nomination

• How do they determine who wins the primaries?
• Winner-Takes-All the candidate with the most
  votes wins. The winner doesnt necessarily need
  a majority.
• In a multi-candidate race, the winner may have
  only a plurality, (simply more than the other
  candidates.
• In Texas, and ONLY IN PRIMARIES, we have a
  run-off election when no candidate gets a clear
  majority.
• (two top vote getters run against each other to
  find the majority winner)!

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Party Unification

• Primaries tend to be a fierce political battle
  between opponents from the same party.
• To bring about party unity, losers from the
  primary speak during the convention, putting
  their support to the winning candidate.

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Party Unity
Reunification after the Primaries
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Stage 2 THE CONVENTION
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REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION
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THE CONVENTION

• National Party Conventions
• State Delegates
• Commitment to a specific
  candidate?
• Network TV coverage
• Reduced in recent years due to lack of public
  interest.
• Day 1 Keynote address other speeches
• Day 2

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Clinton in 88
Obama in 04
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The Convention

• Day 23 Committee reports/rules and the party
  platform.
• The Platform is made up of planks (issues) put
  together that spell out where the party stands on
  the issues.

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What are the issues?

• Abortion
• Legalizing marijuana
• Gun Control
• Health Care
• Economy
• Foreign Affairs

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The Convention

• Day 4
• Choosing the running mate
• Accepting the nomination
• The Vice Presidential Nominee
• The choice is made before the convention,
• The announcement is timed to enhance the media.
• Sarah Palin, McCains choice in 08 was made to
  energize the McCain campaign (Did it?)

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The Convention

• The Candidate
• Balances the ticket
• Mondale picked the 1st woman in 1984, Geraldine
  Ferraro -they did not win.
• Bush Sr. did poorly with women and baby boomer
  voters, so he picked Quayle.
• Bill Clinton and Al Gore do not represent a
  balanced ticket.

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Stage 3 THE GENERAL ELECTION

• Most voters vote on the basis of party and
  candidate appeal.
• The Media and Image - Candidates devote a ton of
  attention to defining themselves positively and
  the opposition negatively. The media plays a big
  role in allowing this to happen.

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Presidential Debates- TV debates are now a major
feature of the elections. The 1960 debate of
Nixon and JFK was famous because it elevated the
role of TV in our politics.
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• The debates of 1992 generated a large viewing
  audience.
• This debate did not change peoples minds though.
  
• Most debates usually just reinforce peoples
  attitudes.

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The General Election

• The Electoral College
• Each state is free to determine how its electors
  are selected and are usually long time party
  workers.
• They are expected to vote for their partys
  candidate.
• Each state gets an electoral number based on
  number of representatives and senators your state
  gets.
• Texas has 32 representatives and 2 Senators, thus
  34 electors.

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• Bush Lead in 2000 Gore lead in 2000
• These were the toss-up states in 2000

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The General Election

• The Electoral College
• The candidate, who wins a plurality of the
  popular vote, gets all electoral votes of that
  state.
• The winning electors go their state capital on
  the first Monday after the second Wednesday in
  December to cast their vote.
• The ballots are sent to Congress early in January
  and Congress formally counts the ballots and
  declares the winner.
• If no candidate gets the 270 needed, the House
  chooses the President and the Senate chooses the
  VP

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Election 2004Blue States-DemocratRed-Republican
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The General Election

• Most electoral rules remain matters of state law
  - but every 2 years there is a Congressional
  election, every 4 years, a Presidential election.
• Elections for members of Congress and the
  President occur the first Tuesday after the first
  Monday in November on even numbered years. (in
  the Constitution)

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Pop Quiz!!!

• Get out a blank sheet of paper
• (you can use your notes)
• Dont forget there is a TEST next class!!!