Transcript Document

Selecting a President:
Nominating Conventions
Presidential Selection
 Stage 1: Caucuses & Primaries
The Battle for the Party Faithful
 Stage 2: Nominating Conventions
“Glorified Infomercials?”
 Stage 3: General Election
The Fight for the Center
 Stage 4: Electoral College
Power to the People?
Presidential Nominating Conventions:
The Nuts & Bolts
Barack and Michelle Obama at the 2004 Democratic National Convention
Stage 1: Caucuses
Barrack Obama campaigns in Iowa
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Closed meeting of party members in each state
Delegates select the party’s choice for presidential candidate
Currently, six states, including Nevada in 2008, offer party
caucuses selecting presidential nominees.
Stage 1: Caucuses
Hilary Clinton (D) and Rudy Guilliani (R) campaigning in Iowa
Questions for Discussion:
1. The Iowa Caucus is on January 3, 2008. Why is it
so important?
2. Brainstorm pros and cons to the caucus format.
Stage 1: Primaries
Presidential Primary Elections - special elections in
which voters select candidates to be the party’s nominee
for president in the general election.
 Primary Season January - June
 Who Decides? - State
party organizations for
the most part decide the
rules for the primaries in
a particular state.
 Types of Primaries:
 Closed Primaries
 Open Primaries
Mitt Romney campaigning in New Hampshire
Closed Primary
• Voters may vote in a party's primary only if
they are registered members of that party
Open Primary
• A registered
voter may vote
in any party
primary
regardless of
his or her own
party
affiliation.
Methods of Selecting Presidential Delegates by State
2008 Open & Closed Primaries
Map of 2008 Primary & Caucus Dates
Nominating Conventions
• An assembly held by
political parties every
four years
• Usually held in late
summer before the
general election in
November
• The Democratic and
Republican parties
hold nominating
conventions as do
third parties [ex:
Green Party,
Libertarian Party]
George W. and Laura Bush at the
2000 Republican Convention
Purposes of Nominating Conventions
1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit, Michigan
1. Delegates at the convention adopt a party platform.
2. Delegates to the convention elect that party’s
nominees for President and Vice-president.
What’s a Party Platform?
• Party Platform - a
statement of principles
and objectives a
political party and a
candidate supports in
order to win the general
election.
• Plank - Individual
topics in a party’s
platform (ex: abortion,
war in Iraq)
Cartoon satirizing the 1896
Democratic Party Platform
2004 Platform Themes
Democratic Party:
“Strong at Home,
Respected in the
World”
Republican Party:
“A Safer World and
a More Hopeful
America”
How are these themes similar?
Different?
Who are Delegates?
Delegate - A voting representative to the party
nominating convention
Delegate Selection
Proportional System
 Primary system used by
the Democratic Party
 Candidates are allocated
the same percentage of a
state’s delegates as they
received in popular votes
 Pro’s & con’s of the
proportional system?
Winner-take-all
System
 System used in most
Republican primaries
 The winner of the
popular vote in that state
receives all that state’s
delegates
 Pro’s & con’s of the
winner-take-all system?
Democratic Party Rules:
Two Types of Delegates
Pledged Delegates v. Superdelegates
Pledged Delegates
 Each state allotted
certain
number of
delegates who
vote at
the party’s
convention
 Pledged delegates are
chosen at state &
local
level
 Pledged delegates are
required to cast a vote
Pledged delegates count during the 2008 Democratic primaries
at the convention
based on the results
of the primary or caucus in their state
Superdelegates
 Members of the
Democratic Party
establishment who
serve as unpledged
delegates at the
party convention
 Include members
of Congress,
governors, and
members of the
D.N.C.
 They are free to vote for any candidate at the
convention
Brokered Convention
 A situation in which no one candidate in a political party
has received enough delegates in the primaries and
caucuses to obtain a majority
Democrats avoided a
brokered convention in 2008
 After the first ballot at the party’s
convention, nominee decided
through horse-trading and
further ballots
 Thomas Dewey (R) in 1948 and
Adlai Stevenson (D) in 1952 last
two candidates selected through
brokered conventions; neither
won the general election
Brainstorm potential positive and negative
consequences of a brokered convention.
Minor Parties in the United
States
Ideological Parties
Example: Libertarian Party
Single-issue Parties
Example: Free Soil Party
Economic Protest Parties
Example: The Greenback Party
Splinter Party
Example: “Bull Moose” Progressive Party
Minor Parties in the United States
Why Are Minor Parties Important?
Minor parties play several important roles:
“Spoiler Role”
•
Minor party candidates can pull decisive votes away from one of the
major parties’ candidates, especially if the minor party candidate is from
a splinter party.
Critic
• Minor parties, especially single-issue parties, often take stands on and
draw attention to controversial issues that the major parties would
prefer to ignore.
Innovator
• Often, minor parties will draw attention to important issues and propose
innovative solutions to problems. If these proposals gain popular
support, they are often integrated into the platforms of the two major
parties.
Convention Speeches:
The Keynote Address
Senator Barrack Obama gives the
2004 DNC Keynote Address
Democrat Zell Miller delivers the
2004 RNC Keynote Address
 The speech given at the convention that embodies that
party’s core message
 Why do you think Democrats choose Barrack Obama and
Republicans Zell Miller to deliver the 2004 Keynote
Addresses?
Convention Speeches:
The Acceptance Address
1960 presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon deliver their
Acceptance Addresses at their party’s national convention
 The speech given at the final day of the convention in which
the winning candidate formally accepts the party’s
nomination for president
 The Acceptance Address is always televised by the major
networks
1992 Democratic National Convention in New York City
Critics say that party nominating conventions
have become no more than infomercials.
What do you think?
1920 Republican Convention
• Today candidates
secure their party’s
nomination during
the primaries
• But in 1920 there
was no clear
nominee going
into the
Republican
Convention
http://www.rightyblogs.com
Schwarzenegger Rocks Republican Convention
By Patrick Chappatte, The International Herald Tribune 09/21/2004
http://www.politicalcartoons.com/
2008 -- The Final Three
By Paresh Nath, National Herald, New Delhi, India 3/17/08 http://cagle.msnbc.com
Superdelegates
By John Trever, The Albuquerque Journal 03/30/2008 http://www.politicalcartoons.com/