On the Road to the White House: Information Resources on Presidential Nomination

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On the Road to the White HouseInformation
Resources on Presidential Nomination

• John Hernandez
• Politics U.S. Documents Librarian
• February 25, 2004

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On the Show This Morning

• Background on Presidential Nomination
• Information Resources (Current Historical)
• Primary Debates Campaign Advertising
• Primaries Caucuses
• Party Platforms Conventions
• Public Opinion
• Third Parties

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Eligibility to Run for President

• Article II, Section 1
• Natural-born citizen
• At least 35 years of age
• U.S. resident for at least 14 years
• 22nd Amendment
• No one may serve more than two full terms
• No official requirement of previous elective
  office or military service

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Pre-Nomination Phase

• Raise money
• Test the waters via exploratory committees
• Formally name campaign committees
• File with the Federal Election Commission
  http//www.fec.gov/
• Publicly announce candidacy

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Campaign Advertising

• Positive public image of candidate
• Negative image of opposition
• Sources for ads public statements
• Running for President The Candidates and Their
  Images, 1789-1992
• Candidate statements via Project Vote Smart
  http//www.vote-smart.org/
• Campaign announcements ads via C-SPAN
  http//www.c-span.org/vote2004/profiles.asp
  
  http//www.c-span.org/vote2004/campads.asp

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Primary Debates

• Held between candidates of the same party
• Initial fight for popularity
• Opportunity to set campaign rhetoric, issues and
  agenda
• First debate held 1948 in Oregon between NY Gov.
  Thomas Dewey former MN Gov. Harold Stassen

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Sources of Debates

• Newspaper coverage
• Proquest Historical Newspapers
• LexisNexis
• NewsBank
• Videos
• Vanderbilt University Television News Archive
  http//tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/
• C-SPAN Archives
  http//www.c-spanarchives.org/

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History of the Primary/Caucus

• Congressional caucuses were the traditional
  method of selecting nominees until 1824
• Multi-tiered nominating caucus-conventions began
  in the 1830s to reflect popular will
• Primaries began about 1910 in state elections
• Pressure from Progressives
• Applied to national elections as of 1948
• U.S. Presidential Primaries and the
  Caucus-Convention System A Sourcebook

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Primary vs. Caucus

• Election to nominate party candidates for the
  general election
• Voters elect delegates to national convention
• Voting can be closed (only registered party
  members) or open (non-registered)

• Meeting of party members or leaders to select
  nominees
• Delegates to national convention are chosen
• Often used with state convention
• Support for a candidate registered by public
  declaration

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Delegate Scorecard

• Number of delegates assignments defined by
  national parties
• As candidates drop out, delegates are
  redistributed
• Unpledged delegates are aligned as the process
  continues

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Iowa New Hampshire

• First in the nation
• Iowa Caucus/New Hampshire Primary
• Front-loading
• Six-week period between February March
• Winners here often take the convention

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Super Tuesday

• Began with Southern Legislative Conference 1988
• Provides over half of the needed delegates
• This year is March 2, 2004
• CA (370), NY (236) OH (140)
• MA (93), GA (86), MN (72) MD (69)
• CT (49), RI (21), VT (15)

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Primary Caucus Results

• Official state tallies
• State Departments of State
• Federal Election Commission
• Unofficial compiled sources
• America at the Polls, 1920-2000
• America Votes (1956-present)
• United States Presidential Primary Elections,
  1968-1996
• CNN.com American Votes 2004 http//www.cnn.com/ELE
  CTION/2004/

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National Party Conventions

• National party platform is finalized and
  announced
• Delegates tallied to determine the partys
  nominees
• Nominees for President and Vice President are
  announced
• Acceptance speeches are made
• Race for the general election begins

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Party Platforms

• Statement of the partys agenda and positions
• Comprised of planks or specific issue
  statements
• Platform sources
• Official proceedings of party conventions
• National Party Platforms, 1840-1976
• 1980 supplement
• National Party Conventions, 1831-1992
• The American Presidency Project
  http//www.presidency.ucsb.edu/

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Public Opinion Polls

• Began in earnest circa 1972
• Used to project winners losers
• Horse race coverage
• Largely consist of exit polls surveys
• Conducted by major news networks, papers
  pollsters
• ABC, CBS, CNN, New York Times, L.A. Times
• Gallup, Zogby, Harris, Roper

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Public Opinion Sources

• Opinion poll indexes/databases
• Polling the Nations
• iPoll Databank
• American Public Opinion Index
• News sources
• NES Guide to Public Opinion Electoral Behavior
• Evaluation of Presidential Candidates
  http//www.umich.edu/nes/nesguide/gd-index.htm7

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Third Parties

• Often not reported due to relative size,
  influence, and non-mainstream focus
• Spoilers may get better coverage (i.e. Green
  Party)
• Generally necessary to research the parties
  individually
• Third Party Presidential Nominating Conventions,
  Proceedings, Records, Etc.
• Microfilm good for historical coverage of select
  third parties
• PUL does not own, Penn State NYPL do.

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Tune in Next Time When John Says

• Dont blame me, I voted for the other guy!