304 Chapter 9 | Electionssame as in previous years, with Iowa and New Hampshire holding the initial contests in
early February 2016, followed by a primary in South Carolina and a caucus in Nevada
later in the month and the remaining contests beginning in March and continuing to
June. One recent trend is regional primaries, in which all the states in a given area (such
as southern states) hold their primaries or caucuses on the same date.
One rule that distinguishes the parties’ candidate selection processes is that about
one-fifth of the delegates to the Democratic convention are not supporters of a particular
candidate, nor have they been chosen to attend the convention based on primary and
caucus results. Rather, they are elected officials and party officials whom their colleagues
select to serve as superdelegates. Most are automatically seated at the convention
regardless of primary and caucus results, and they are free to support any candidate for
the nomination. By forcing candidates to court support from superdelegates, the party
aims to ensure that the nominee is someone who these officials believe can win the
general election and whom they can work with if he or she is elected.^11 Republicans give
state party leaders automatic delegate slots at their convention, but the number of such
delegates is a much smaller percentage than for Democrats.The National Convention Presidential nominating conventions happen late in
the summer of an election year. Their main task is to select the party’s presidential
nominee, although usually the vote at the convention is a formality; in most recent
presidential contests, one candidate has emerged from the nomination process going
into the convention with a clear majority of delegates and has been able to win the
nomination on the first ballot. To get the nomination, a candidate needs the support of
a majority of the delegates. If no candidate receives a majority after the first round of
voting at the convention, the voting continues until someone does.
After the convention delegates nominate a presidential candidate, they nominate
a vice-presidential candidate. The presidential nominee gets to choose his or her
running mate (generally before the convention), and the delegates almost always
ratify this choice without much debate. Delegates also vote on the party platform,
which describes what the party stands for and what kinds of policies its candidates will
supposedly seek to enact if they are elected.
The final purpose of a convention is to attract public attention to the party and its
nominees. Public figures give speeches during the evening sessions when all major
television networks have live coverage. At some recent conventions, both parties have
drawn press attention by recruiting speakers who support their political goals despite
being associated with the opposing party.
Once presidential candidates are nominated, the general-election campaign officially
begins—although it often unofficially starts much earlier, as soon as the presumptive
nominees are known. We will say more about presidential campaigns in a later section.Counting Presidential Votes Let’s assume for a moment that the campaigning is
over and that Election Day has arrived. Even though in the voting booth people choose
between the candidates by name, a choice that constitutes the popular vote, this vote
is not directly for a presidential candidate. Rather, when you select your preferred
candidate’s name, you are choosing that person’s slate of pledged supporters from your
state to serve as electors, who will then vote to elect the president.
The number of electors for each state equals the state’s number of House members
(which varies by state population) plus the state’s number of senators (two per state).
Altogether, the electors chosen by the citizens of each state constitute the electoral
college, the body that casts electoral votes to formally select the president. Small-
population states, therefore, have few electoral votes—Delaware and Montana,
for example, each have only 3—while the highest-population state, California,You win some, you lose some. And
then there’s that little-known
third category.— Al Gore, who lost the 2000
presidential vote in the electoral
college despite winning the most
votes on Election Daypopular vote
The votes cast by citizens in an
election.
electoral college
The body that votes to select
America’s president and vice
president based on the popular vote in
each state. Each candidate nominates
a slate of electors who are selected to
attend the meeting of the college if
their candidate wins the most votes in
a state or district.
electoral votes
Votes cast by members of the electoral
college; after a presidential candidate
wins the popular vote in a given state,
that candidate’s slate of electors casts
electoral votes for the candidate on
behalf of that state.Senate campaign appearances
almost always involve extensive
print and electronic media coverage.
Here, Arizona Republican and 2018
candidate Dr. Kelli Ward speaks to
the media as she prepares to file her
nominating petitions. Although she
lost the primary, the media helped get
out her message and policy agenda.Full_10_APT_64431_ch09_296-339.indd 304 16/11/18 1:43 PM