Lesson 40: Running for President: The Longest Campaign
In this lesson, we will start by looking at how the presidential primary was
reformed through the McGovern-Fraser Commission. Then we will review the
different types of primaries, such as direct and indirect primaries, open and
closed primaries, and run-off primaries, and also learn about the caucus
system. We will discuss early primaries and learn about how the national
convention works to choose the presidential candidate. Finally, we will talk
about what happens if no presidential candidate gets a majority of the
electoral votes.
A run for president actually includes two separate campaigns. First, there is
the primary, and then whoever survives that runs in the general election.
In 1968,
a huge riot broke out at the Democratic convention in Chicago calling for
changes to the nomination process. The McGovern-Fraser Commission was put in
place to make those changes and one major change was that delegates are elected
by the voters in the primary election rather than chosen by party leaders.
Each party votes for the delegates who will represent them on the national and
state levels, even though these delegates are not legally bound to vote the way
the party votes. In addition to delegates, there are also superdelegates.
Superdelegates are party leaders or elected officials who are given the right to
vote at the party’s national convention. Superdelegates are
NOT elected at the state level.
Before all that
though, the actual race begins with the invisible primary. The Invisible
Primary is a pre-primary campaign to win support among elected officials,
fundraisers, interest groups, and opinion leaders.
In the case of the 2016 Republican primaries, Jeb Bush and
Scott Walker were out on the road in
2014 drumming up support for their campaigns.
Throughout the states, primaries and
caucuses are held to choose the candidates that
will be running for various offices. There are two main types of primaries.
The Direct Primary is a primary election in
which voters decide party nominations by voting directly for candidates.
The Indirect Primary is a primary election in
which voters choose convention delegates, and the delegates then determine the
party’s candidate when they meet at the national convention. Presidential
candidates are usually selected through an indirect primary.
The winner-take-all method is used in most primaries, but there is also the
proportional method which is based on how many votes a candidate receives in
the primary. Depending on the number of votes received, that candidate will
receive that same percentage of delegates.
In a Closed Primary, only voters which belong to that party are allowed to vote.
In an Open Primary,
a voter can vote in
either party primary (but must vote for candidates of only one party).
In open primaries,
independent voters get a say in who goes on to the general election.
Some states have a system in place called a run-off,
which means there is a second primary in cases where a candidate does not
receive a majority of the votes. The candidates who are in the run-off are the
top two candidates from the first primary.
In another form of primary, the Top-Two Primary is a system where all the
candidates are placed on one ballot. A party has no power to remove a candidate
from the ballot, which comes into play when they have their candidate of choice
but another candidate affiliated with that party is also running. No matter
what party they are affiliated with, the top two candidates receiving the most
votes continue to the general election.
The road to the general election is often paved with caucuses. The Caucus
System is a meeting of party members to select candidates and propose policies.
In many states,
voters get together in
a caucus at the precinct level to choose the delegates to the district
convention. The district convention then chooses the delegates to the state
convention and the state chooses the delegates to the national convention.
Those delegates pledge to reflect the voting preferences of the voters.
Different states hold their primaries at different times. Candidates know that
they need to campaign early to win primary elections in the early states so
that they can be considered the front-runner.
The Front-Runner is the presidential candidate who appears to
be ahead at a given time in the primary season.
In response to candidates campaigning in the states that had early primaries,
the states themselves realized that early primaries were more influential to
the overall outcome of the presidential election. This resulted in a trend
called front-loading, which is the practice of moving presidential primary
elections to the early part of the campaign to maximize the impact of these
primaries on the nomination.
With front-loading came concerns that
some candidates would get nominated before most voters even had a chance to
learn about them. So, the Democrat and Republican parties attempted to remedy
this by only allowing traditional early primaries to continue; other states
would need special permission to hold an early primary.
States who did not follow the primary schedule could be punished by getting
their number of delegates cut or not being seated at all. But, those
punishments have proven difficult to impose.
Since 1832,
the national conventions have chosen the presidential candidates in
every election. It is a solid system that
utilizes a credentials committee to help choose delegates.
A Credentials Committee is used by political parties at their national
conventions to determine which delegates may participate. The committee
inspects the claim of each prospective delegate to be seated as a legitimate
representative of his or her state.
Even though delegates normally come to
the convention already decided on a candidate, the activities at the convention
still have a purpose. They are televised, which means that uncommitted voters
in the viewing audience could be influenced.
An elector is a member of the electoral college, which selects the president and
vice president. Each state’s electors are chosen according to state laws in
the year of the presidential election.
This system was put in place because the framers of the Constitution never
wanted the election to be in the hands of an emotional and uneducated people.
Not all voters fall into that category, but the fact that they exist was enough
of a concern. Delegates are chosen because they are supposed to be select
people who are reasonable and unemotional.
Each state selects their electors according to their own process. On the road
to the general election, electors are pledged to vote for the candidate that
has been chosen by the American people. The number of electors for each state
is the same as the number of senators and representatives combined.
The electors are expected to vote the way the country votes,
but the Constitution does not require it. Faithless electors have voted their
own way before.
Because there are
538 total elector votes, a presidential candidate must receive 270 electoral
votes to win. If that does not happen, the House decides from the three
candidates with the highest votes. In that case, each state has one vote.
The Senate then chooses the vice president from
the two candidates who had the most votes. Each senator gets a vote.