| American Government |
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| Sections: Introduction | Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Section 4 |
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Government : Political Participation : Section Two Nominations and Campaigns * Note - In this section, we will be discussing what happens before a presidential election.
The first major steps toward being elected president are the primaries and caucuses. Primaries and caucuses allow voters to show their support for candidates and tell the party leaders who the party members support most. A caucus is one of the most direct forms of democracy still used today. A caucus is a meeting of party members to select their delegates to the national convention. The convention is where the candidate is officially chosen by the party. At a caucus, those in attendance select which candidate they want to represent their party in the general election. A few states, such as Iowa, still use the caucus system today. Most states have switched to a primary system. A primary is similar to an election. Voters have the opportunity to select who they prefer to have as their candidate for president. The majority of states today use the primary system. Voters are given a ballot to choose either the candidate they prefer, or the delegates they want to send to the convention. This depends on the state in which they live. In most states, the delegates to the national convention are legally required to place their vote at the convention for the candidate who won their state’s primary. Some states require the delegates to be assigned proportionally. This means that if one candidate wins 40% of the vote in a state, and another candidate wins 60% of the vote in that state, then 40% of the delegates vote for the candidate who received that percentage of the vote, and 60% of the delegates vote for the winning candidate. There are different kinds of primaries. In states that have a closed primary system, only registered members of each party can vote, and they can only vote for candidates in their own party. For example, in a closed primary a registered Republican could vote with a Republican ballot, a registered Democrat could vote with a Democrat ballot, and those not registered with any party could not vote at all. In an open primary, anyone can vote, but they must choose which party’s ballot they want. This allows independent voters to participate in primaries as well. The primaries and caucuses determine which delegates will represent each state at the national conventions. Both the Republicans and Democrats hold a national convention, where they officially select their nominee for the presidency. By the time the convention is held, usually during the summer of the election year, it is usually clear who the nominees for each major party will be. Because of this, the convention is generally used to get the campaign started and decide on parts of the candidates/parties platform. A platform is a statement of goals and principles that the party supports. The candidate uses the platform as the basis for his or her campaign. Speeches are given in support of the candidate, and there is generally a great deal of excitement associated with it – balloons, banners, music, etc.
Because there has been a great deal of corruption involved in acquiring funds for political campaigns, there have been many efforts to reform campaign finance over the past few decades. The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 placed limits on spending and contributions. There were loopholes in the Act, however, and candidates were able to secure funds known as soft money, or money that escapes the limitations of federal election laws. Soft money contributions were banned, limits were placed on how much corporations could spend on political issues, and the amount an individual can contribute to a candidate was increased with the passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. In 2009, however, the Supreme Court struck down the part of the act restricting corporation spending.
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In order for a candidate to run for president under the name of a political party, he or she must receive that party’s nomination. A 
Following the convention, the campaign continues until Election Day in November. Campaigns consist of lots of media coverage and advertisements trying to get the public to support one of the candidates. Campaigns try to reach those crucial undecided voters and sway their opinions before the election. Campaigns are very expensive. There are costs involved with all the media coverage and campaign staff. Each candidate has a large staff working for him/her to research public opinion, schedule speaking engagements, plan media campaigns, and many other tasks. All of this costs a great deal of money. The 2004 presidential election cost more than $800 million dollars.
Now it’s time to take the Section 2 quiz. When you are finished, proceed to section 3. 