Politics and elections 75and the House of Representatives take place every two years, one-third of
the Senate and the whole of the House standing for election. Thus we have
the phenomenon of ‘mid-term’ elections, that is the election of all 435 Rep-
resentatives and perhaps thirty-two or more Senators half-way through the
term of office of the incumbent president, an arrangement that can result in
some strange political situations, and that provides considerable difficulties
for political strategists. The fact that the president cannot dissolve Congress,
no matter how intransigent it becomes, and remains in office for four years,
whether or not the administration’s policies receive the support of Congress,
gives to each branch of the government a degree of mutual independence
that is clearly reflected in the behaviour of presidential and congressional
candidates at election time. There are four major steps in an American presi-
dential election: the caucuses and primaries, the conventions, the campaign
culminating in the election, and the vote in the Electoral College. Let us
trace the process through each of these stages.
Caucuses and primary elections
At the end of the nineteenth century America saw the development, at coun-
ty and city level, of some of the most formidable and cohesive political or-
ganisations that have ever evolved in a democratic system of government.
Yet for the most part American elections are not fought between rival, highly
organised parties. Much of the vital stuff of American politics consists of
battles between different groups within a particular party, often between the
official party organisation and other groups or factions that oppose it. The
official party organisation can be attacked, and at times defeated, by other
groups within the party, bitterly divided from it on grounds of personalities
or policies. Fratricidal strife is the hallmark of American political life, with
the bitterest battles being fought within as well as between the parties. This
strife has been institutionalised by the adoption of the device of the primary
election. The electoral process must begin with the selection of candidates
for office and their nomination. It is at this first stage, rather than in the
election proper, that the really decisive choices may be made, for it is the
selection of the people who will at a later stage be the representatives and
leaders of the party that determines its true character. The selection of party
candidates may be achieved in a number of ways: by a group of party leaders
meeting in caucus; by delegates at a party meeting or convention; by party
supporters; or by a combination of these methods. Elections in which party
supporters choose their candidates prior to the general election are called
primary elections.
The caucus system was the earliest method adopted for choosing candi-
dates for elective office; a caucus is a meeting of party leaders or activists to
decide on policy or to select candidates for office. In the nineteenth century,
party leaders in the secrecy of ‘smoke-filled rooms’ selected candidates for
the United States Senate, the House of Representatives, and state and local