The Making of the President

1. The Making of the President a.k.a, The Steps to Electing the President

2. The basic steps are… • Self-nomination • Campaign to win party nomination - “Win Primaries and Caucuses” • National Nominating Convention • Campaign to win General Election • General Election • Electoral College meets and votes • Inauguration

3. STEP 1 Self-Nomination • Candidates for the presidency usually nominate themselves • This occurs up to 2 years before the General Election

4. Declaring Candidacy • Timing - maximum publicity • Location – supporters, hype • Appear elect-able! • Generate excitement among voters

5. Some examples of those who threw their “hat in the ring” in 2008… John Edwards, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton for the Democrats… • Mitt Romney, John McCain, and Rudy Guiliani for the Republicans…

6. Who wants to be the Democratic Nominee? • Joseph Biden • Wesley Clark • Christopher Dodd • Bill Richardson • Al Gore????? • Hillary Clinton • John Edwards • Barack Obama

7. Who wants to be the Republican Nominee? • Tommy Thompson • Jim Gilmore • Sam Brownback • Mike Huckabee • John McCain • Rudy Guiliani • George Pataki • Mitt Romney

8. Step 2: Campaign to Win Your Party’s Nomination for Prez • Both fields of Democratic and Republican candidates campaign across the country. • They are trying to win votes in each state. • They try to look like presidential material however: • Democrat Howard Dean not sounding presidential hurt his chances to win the Democratic nomination. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1ycCFVKSg4&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active Rick Perry : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPqcW3KXODk&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

9. Each state uses 1 of 2 methods to select its citizens’ preferred candidate from each party • Primaries – voters in a state choose candidate from their party they like the best • Open – anyone in state can vote • Closed - only party members can vote to choose from their party’s candidates (**most states use this primary method) • Caucuses – • a set of meetings, at the local, county and then state levels, where party delegates choose a candidate

10. The Caucus method….. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fobO82jbNRg&feature=fvsr&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

11. Democratic Party Primaries/Caucuses for the 2008 election • January 14th, 2008 - Iowacaucus • January 15th – Michigan ( • January 19th - Nevada caucus • January 22nd - New Hampshire primary (1st in nation) • January 29th – South Carolina • Florida (most candidates boycotted; won by Clinton) • February 5 (SUPER TUESDAY) • Alabama, Alaska caucus, Arizona, California, Colorado caucus, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho caucus, Illinois, Kansas caucus, Minnesota caucus, Missouri , New Jersey, New Mexico caucus, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah • **April 22nd - Pennsylvania • June 3 – South Dakota, Montana

12. Republican Primaries/ Caucuses for the 2008 election • January 3rd, 2008 – Iowa caucus • January 5th – Wyoming • January 15th – Michigan • January 19th – South Carolina, Nevada • January 22nd - New Hampshire primary (used to be first) • January 29th - Florida • February 5 (SUPER TUESDAY)- • Alabama, Alaska , Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado , Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas , Minnesota, Missouri, Montana , New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia • **April 22nd – Pennsylvania • June 3rd – South Dakota (last)

13. Super Tuesday Name for the day in a presidential campaign when many states hold their primaries. In the 2008 campaign, Super Tuesday fell on February 5th (usually in February) • Many states had both their 2008 Democratic and Republican primaries on that day…. • Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, West Virginia • Candidates can take a huge lead, become a front-runner, or find out they may not have “the right stuff”

14. The goal of all of these primaries and caucuses is for the field of candidates to be narrowed down… • Each state can send a certain number of delegates to the Republican and Democratic National Nominating Conventions • (…to choose their party’s candidate officially)

15. Primaries choose delegates to vote for their candidates at the national convention • EXAMPLE: Barack Obama wins 50% of the primary votes , Hillary Clinton wins 45%, and John Edwards wins 5% of the primary votes in Ohio. • If Ohio sends 100 delegates to the Democratic Convention : • Obama would send 50 delegates • Clinton would send 45 delegates • Edwards would send 5 delegates

16. The Nomination Game • Evaluating the Primary and Caucus System • Disproportionate attention to the early ones, especially Iowa & New Hampshire frontloadingwhere states move primaries to earlier date http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3I9cS3JsrI&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active • Money plays too big a role. • Too many primaries & primary season lasts too long – solution :Super Tuesday(s) / regional primaries • Raiding is a real possibility

17. The Nomination Game The Perception of Iowa and New Hampshire Figure 9.1

18. Step 3: The National Nominating Convention • Held in the mid/late summer of the election year (August/September) • Delegates from the states decide 2 issues • Select the Pres and VP Candidatesto run in the General ElectionRoll call vote http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KTIYgo5k3c&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active • Write Party Platform (party’s stance on the issues)

19. Step 3 National Conventions • Developed through tradition – not part of the constitution or founding fathers’ plan • Build unity • Write the Party platform (The party’s stand on important issues) • Selection of presidential Candidate • Running mate declared (balance the ticket

20. Democratic National Convention http://dems2004.org/

21. Convention excitement

22. Democrats allow votes for “superdelegates” • Superdelegate: Delegate slot at the Democratic national convention that is reserved for an elected party official. • Of the 4,322 that attended the DNC 802 were unpledged superdelegates.

23. Republican National Convention

24. Step 4: The Presidential Campaign Trail General Election • Many different methods are used to sway voters for one candidate or the other… • Political Ads • Televised debates • Travel/campaigning/ “stumping” • As you can imagine, these campaigns can get pricey… September thru November of the election year

25. Campaign “Strategy” • Role of media/polls • Advertising Do you go negative? • Financing a campaign • Handling of issues – very carefully!! • “Swing states”/ “Battleground States” • The great quest to sway public opinion, to attract voters without losing others

26. All-important “Photo ops”

27. And by all means, HOLD PEOPLE’S BABIES!

28. Campaign ads • Target important voting audiences • Highlight areas of vulnerability in opponent • Negative campaign ads http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1964/peace-little-girl-daisy#3983 • Highlight strengths of candidate

29. “Winner-take-all” Exceptions: Maine and Nebraska Where would you focus your energy and campaign?

30. “Battleground States” Also “swing states” States that are still “undecided” in who is likely to capture their electoral votes. Rather than waste time and money on sealing a larger margin of victory in “guaranteed” states, candidates tend to focus on winning these all-important regions. Source: http://www.time.com/time/election2004/battleground/

31. The Debates • Presidential : Try not to make this mistake: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUA2rDVrmNg&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active 2. Vice Presidential: When asked about his experience if he needed to take over the office in case of Presidential death or disability: Vice Presidential candidate Quayle response: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RebyCT9KaQ&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

32. The Co$tsof Running • The 2008 campaign was one of the most expensive in history Both Barack Obama and John McCain have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to run for the highest office in the land… Obama = $450m McCain = $370m

33. Step 5: The General Election 1st Tuesday after the 1st Monday in Nov. every four years Voters turn out to cast their ballots for President/VP and for many other offices as well • .

34. Ballot from Florida 2000

35. Step 6: Electoral College • The Electoral College was created at the Constitutional Convention by the founding fathers. • It was the last plan adopted in 1787 in Philadelphia • WHY? Because the framers didn’t believe that the “common man’ had the knowledge to pick the President.

36. The Mechanics of the Electoral College • The Presidential Election should be viewed as 51 separate elections each with a “winner take all” system • To win a candidate must get a majority of 538 votes or 270 • Each state is represented in the Electoral College according to their total number of members of Congress

37. The Mechanics Continued… • Kentucky has 2 senators and 6 representatives. This means that Kentucky has 8 electoral votes • California, the most populous state, has two senators and 52 representatives. This gives California 54 electoral votes • Wyoming, the least populous state, has two senators and 1 representative. This gives Wyoming 3 electoral votes

38. The Mechanics continued…… • The total electoral vote of 538 is based on 100 senators, 435 representatives for the 50 states. The 23rd Amendment gave Washington, DC 3 electoral votes • The candidates compete in 50 states and DC for electoral votes and the winner must have at least 270 • The Electoral College always works when there are only two candidates

39. The Electoral College – How does it work? • The winner of each state’s popular vote (the vote of the people) has all of their electors chosen to cast their votes for President and VP. • This is called the “winner-take-all” method With the exception of (**ME, NE)

40. For example: • In 2008, the popular vote in PA turned out this way: John Barack McCain Obama 2,655,855 (44%) 3,276,363 (56%) • Who won PA’s electoral votes? • Whose electors would be chosen?

41. Electoral College Delegates • The group of people who get to cast their state’s electoral votes . • How are they chosen?: They are long-term loyal party members who are chosen by the political parties in each state. It is a reward for party members. • In Dec. the winning electors meet in each state’s capital and cast their ballots and send them to Congress. • After the 50 states and D.C’s votes are counted by a joint session of Congress, the election is official! • http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/CountC/start/1772/stop/2098

42. The Electoral College • The number of electoral votes each state has can change… • As each census changes the # of Reps., it also impacts the # of electoral votes But…the total number of electoral votes is always… 538

43. Changes after the 2000 Census

44. Quick video review http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok_VQ8I7g6I

45. Step 7: The Inauguration • Occurs on January 20th of the year following the election • Sworn in by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

46. The oath of office… "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

47. Inaugural Festivities Parade Inaugural Ball Arrival at the White House

48. Advantages of using the Electoral College • Preserves the federal system-winning individual states is important. Without the EC, state lines mean nothing • Preserves the two party system • Keeps our politics moderate-extreme parties have little chance of winning any state

49. Criticisms of the electoral College

50. Concentration of powerpossible to win carrying 11 states • California (55) • Texas (34) • New York (31) • Florida (31) • Pennsylvania (21) • Illinois (21) • Ohio (20) • Michigan (17) • New Jersey (15) • North Carolina 915) • Georgia (15)