The Announcement

Candidates often announce their candidacy a year or more in advance of an election. The announcement generates an initial surge of useful publicity. There is, however, some danger in starting out this early. A front runner often becomes a highly visible target for attacks by opponents, the media, and the opposition party. Political campaigns, therefore, have been increasingly taken over by “image makers”. Public relations firms produce commercials that emphasize a candidate’s speaking voice, physical appearance, and family. Candidates are coached to make speeches filled with a something-for-everybody philosophy. This approach has turned many elections into popularity contests.

(Spring) Nominating conventions

And primary elections

In states without primary elections, the party organization holds a nominating convention in the spring. At the convention, state political leaders play a major role in selecting candidates for national office. They also select the delegates to the national party conventions. In the 20^th century presidential primary elections replaced nominating conventions in most of the states and the District of Columbia.

Primary elections allow voters registered as members of a particular party to select their party’s candidates. In these special elections, voters select slates of delegates, each pledged to support a particular candidate for the party’s nomination. Primaries open only to registered members of a particular party are called closed primaries. A few states hold open primaries, in which voters do not declare their choice until they are in privacy of the voting booth. Then they mark the appropriate party ballot. To make matters even more complicated, some states permit crossover voting. This allows Democrats to vote in the Republican primary and vice versa.

Finally, many states run presidential preference primaries (sometimes called “beauty contests”). In these primaries, the election of delegates to the national convention is separate from the voting for a presidential candidate. These contests give candidates useful publicity, but the results are not binding.

Some critics think that the entire primary process should be overhauled. They say it is too long, too expensive, and too hard on the candidates. To replace it, they suggest that each party should hold a single, nationwide presidential primary. Along with simplifying the long primary campaign, it would eliminate much of the need for national conventions. Supporters of the primaries argue that the primaries serve three purposes: they weed out weak candidates, bring candidates closer to the voters, and help the country focus its attention on important national problems.

(Summer) National Conventions

Every four years, each of the major parties holds a widely publicized convention. Conventions engage in three important political activities: (1) The convention nominates candidates for presidency. (2) It hammers together the party’s platform, which is a general statement of the party’s philosophy, positions, and goals on issues of national and international concern. (3) The convention votes on rules for the operation of the party.

National conventions are one of the great spectacles in American politics. Large cities are happy to host the conventions, which generate publicity as well as business. The conventions bring delegates and candidates together for a week of summer madness. The political tensions built up during the long primary campaign are worked out in wild floor demonstrations. Delegates shout, sing, march, and wave placards.

Behind the scenes, candidates and party leaders carry on a frenzied search for the votes they need to lock up the nomination. Sometimes, state delegations bargain with the major nominees. Delegates may agree to switch their votes in exchange for some political favor or governmental position. If none of the candidates can win an early victory in convention voting, the party leaders begin to “wheel and deal”. A state governor, for example, might promise to deliver a block of delegate votes in exchange for favors to be collected at a later date.

After an orgy of oratory and demonstrations, the delegates finally choose their presidential candidate. Incumbent Presidents and highly popular candidates are nominated on the first ballot. If no clear winner has emerged from the primaries, several candidates may divide the vote, and no one will gain a majority. To break this deadlock the convention may take dozens of roll-call votes before agreeing on the candidate. In these cases, a compromise “dark horse” emerges as the party’s nominee.

The nominee’s first task is to choose a candidate for Vice President. Traditionally, the convention automatically elects whomever the presidential candidate wants as his running mate. It is customary (and 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.