Presidential Campaigns and Elections Chapter 9 Lecture 8 Jaymie Ticknor Political Science 1050 Sect 002 18 20 25 and 27 March 2014 Evolution of Nomination Process initially process was non partisan in nature emergence of political parties led to more partisan process nomination process moved from a party dominated to a more voter based process know who is going to be the nominees for each party Presidential Party Nominations candidates must win party nomination to run for the presidency in the general election Candidate with the majority of delegates at national convention wins nomination Caucuses meeting of party members that selects delegates in support of particular party nominees argues that it may not be democratic Primaries elections where voters select the party nominee for the general election 35 states practice this dominant Reform of Nomination Rules 1968 Democratic nomination rules significantly changed Increased number of presidential primaries Introduced proportional allocation of delegates Policies to make delegations more diverse Created superdelegates unpledged can choose candidate at national convention often political officeholders and party officials allowed party to keep some control over nomination process Winner take all system win state then win all delegates in state still can get delegates within states whether they win the state or not Comparable to proportion of votes Republican eventually adopted many of these reforms The Nomination Process Primary Elections elections in each state that narrows the number of party candidates and determines who will be the party nominee in the general election Open Primary can choose to vote either primary not both though Modified Open Primary registered voters who are not affiliated with either party can vote in either party s primary Closed Primary cannot vote in other primary Party candidates campaign against one another for the nomination Pledged Delegates commit to voting for particular candidate at national convention if selected to go to the national convention then they will vote on candidate s behalf Unpledged Delegates elites who are not required to vote for a particular candidate selected at a state or local level Candidate with majority of delegates at convention wins nomination Winner Take All vs Proportionality Democratic Party has proportional allocation of delegates For Republicans some states allocate delegates through the use of a proportional system while other states use a winner take all system popularity contest not able to know candidate very well Before 2012 Republicans had a winner take all system Republicans shifted to proportional system in some states Are Caucuses Undemocratic Caucuses tend to have significantly lower participation than primaries participants must spend 3 4 hours at a location 10 participate small group of ideological supporters can swing vote for particular candidates 15 states still have these Most states today run primaries to select nominees Criticisms of Primary Elections Frontloading are these states representative of the population Unfairly Media Focus concerned more with candidate mistakes and who is up and down advantages frontrunners at different moments horserace Tend to get more extreme candidates because party voters are voting for one side or the other more committed to party in the primary election may lose the moderate voters in the general election median voters General Election to win presidency a candidate must win a majority in the Electoral College number of electors equals number of House and Senate members from each state District of Columbia gets 3 electors 38 total electoral votes in Texas magic number to win from Electoral College is 270towin com Candidate who wins popular vote in each state wins all of the electors 538 Winning requires a majority of electoral college votes if no one receives a majority of the electoral vote the election is decided by the House of Representatives Who Are the Electors process of selecting electors varies from state to state parties may nominate electors at state party conventions state party may vote on electors Typically electors are party insiders e g state elected officials party leaders people who have relationship with presidential candidate fairly stable Each candidate has their own slate group of electors who will vote for them if they win popular vote in state Swing State state going back and forth between Democratic blue donkey and Republican red elephant Stable State state staying a Democratic or Republican state for the past few elections Controversies of Electoral College electors are not obligated to vote for a particular candidate in some instances the candidate who wins the popular vote nationally may not win the actual election The Electoral College electoral college democratic good but not perfect idea since Electoral College ultimately decides winner depends on mindset not trusting the popular vote If not what might be a decent alternative proportional but time consuming and expensive just use popular vote and get rid of Electoral College but may not be educated what impact might the electoral college have on how candidates campaign for elections may not focus on certain states incentives 1824 1860 and 2000 problems with Electoral College Paying for Campaigns running for the presidency can be expensive 2012 Obama raised 715 million and Romney raised 446 million Some forms of funding are highly regulated while other forms are not Funding Campaigns Hard Money money donated directly to the candidate or political party highly regulated how much to whom and what it is used for Limits on size and source of individual donations 2 500 per candidate per election cycle 38 800 for national party 5 000 to political action committee 117 000 total Soft Money money donated for non campaign purposes less regulated issue advertising for interest groups Get Out The Vote efforts advertising on behalf of candidate Public Funds government offers matching funds must raise 5 000 with 250 from individuals with at least 20 states Major candidates tend to opt out can raise more money through donations outside of public funds avoid restrictions attached to public funds can be found when doing taxes Evolution of Congressional Elections Congress has changed since the beginning of the republic more career driven stay longer tenure increased on average 10 years 5 terms members are more electorally aware People love people in