Primaries: Selecting the Candidates

Every four years, Americans participate in a unique and exciting ritual - selecting the nation’s president and vice president. Beginning early in a presidential election year, people who would like “to run” for the office of president try to win delegates to their party’s national political convention. Delegates are chosen from each state. Some are selected at state caucuses(local meetings of voters and party officials) and others by party conventions.

But most are chosen by primary elections. Primaries give voters an opportunity to indicate whom they want to be their party’s presidential candidate. In a primary election, a presidential candidate is running against other candidates in the same political party, competing for that state’s delegate votes. The primary season begins in January before the election and lasts until about June. This is where candidates fight within two main parties, Republican and Democratic, for their party’s nominations. Voters in each of the 50 states select party delegates, who in most cases have pledged to support a particular candidate. Some states use a caucus rather than primaries. But before primary season a politician with presidential ambition usually forms an exploratory committee to test the waters and raise money, sometimes up to two years before the election. Then they formally declare their candidacy and campaign in key states.

The summer before the elections, each of the two major political parties – the Democrats and the Republicans- holds a national convention lasting about four days. Convention business usually begins with the creation and acceptance of the party’s platform. A platform is a general statement of the party’s philosophy, positions and goals on issues of national and international concern. A majority of the convention delegates must vote in favor of the various planks of the platform in order for them to be accepted. ( a plank is a statement on one subject.)

At these conventions, delegates select the people who will be formally nominated as candidates for president and vice president. The number of delegates from each state is determined by its population and its support for that party in previous elections. The total number of delegates at a convention ranges from about 2.000 to about 4.000. Delegates who have been chosen during the state primaries pick the nominee, though by this stage, the party normally knows who has won. The winning candidate then picks a running-mate, sometimes from among defeated rivals.

What qualities are delegates looking for in their candidate? The most important qualification is the ability to win the election. In addition, delegates consider a nominee’s integrity and talent for leadership. Votes are taken alphabetically by state. At some conventions, one nominee gets the majority of delegate votes on the first roll call. At others, several roll calls may be necessary before one nominee wins the majority of votes. Sometimes, state delegations bargain with the major nominees. Delegates may agree to switch their votes in exchange for some political favor or governmental position. For example, an agreement might be made that, in exchange for a state’s votes, the nominee may recommend a certain person to be the vice presidential candidate. Eventually, enough deals are made that one person receives a majority of the votes and becomes the party’s presidential candidate.

In recent years, more and more states have held primary elections. As a result, it has become common for one candidate to win a majority of the delegates’ votes during the primaries. In that event, the party’s presidential candidate has already been chosen before the convention even begins.

After the presidential candidate is selected, the vice presidential candidate must be chosen. Traditionally, the convention officially elects whomever the presidential candidate wants as his running mate. It is customary (a good politics) for a party’s presidential and vice presidential candidates to come from different parts of the country and to have somewhat different political views. That way, the team appeals to voters with different viewpoints and concerns. At the convention, the two candidates are formally nominates, elected as the party’s candidates, and cheered greatly before and after they give their acceptance speeches. Finally, the convention adjourns (ends).

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 906