U.S. presidential primary
The U.S. presidential primaries are but one step in the process of electing a President of the United States. The primary elections evolved out of the necessity for U.S. political parties to nominate and unite behind one candidate for the Presidency.
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2 Types of primaries 3 List of primaries 4 Related articles |
The long process of choosing the President of the United States begins with a series of individual state primary elections, in which voters in particular parties express their preference among a series of candidates. While typically voting for a particular candidate, voters actually choose a slate of delegates for each party to represent that state at the party's political convention. The delegates gather at each party's nominating convention held several months prior to the general election. There, the delegates formally submit their votes for the nominees, and the person with the most votes becomes the party's Presidential candidate for the general election.
The primary elections begin as early as January of the election year and take place through the spring, culminating in the mid-summer national convention of each political party. Campaigning for the primaries often begins six to 12 months before the first primary, almost two years before the general election. Incumbent presidents seeking re-election have nearly always won their party's nomination (Franklin Pierce, Grover Cleveland, and arguably Lyndon Johnson are exceptions).
The best-known of the American presidential primaries is the one in New Hampshire, because it is the first in each quadrennial cycle. Although established in 1916, this primary drew little attention until 1952, when a change in proceedings allowed more candidates to be listed on the ballot. That created a contest that drew notice from then-new television coverage, and its importance was cemented when Jimmy Carter took a surprise win in 1976 and rode it to the presidency.
In the late 1970s, the New Hampshire Legislature passed laws designed to guarantee that their primary would always come first — a status it has successfully defended from other states who envy the attention. The main competition comes from Iowa, which holds a less-binding caucus vote a week or two before the New Hampshire primary. Some people claim that the current primary system is unfair, because it places undue emphasis on New Hampshire and Iowa, which they claim are not representative of the nation as a whole.
Since the advent of "Super Tuesday" in 1988, there has been a trend towards "front-loading" state primaries--moving their dates forward as much as possible, so that more primaries are bunched together earlier in the campaign season. In the 2004 Democratic primary schedule, for instance, many people expect to know the nominee by the middle of March; in the past, the nominee was often not known until June, when the last of the primaries were held, or even until the convention. A number of states do not have primaries, citing the costs of the election and the irrelevance of primaries late in the nominating cycle.
There are several proposals of reforming the primary system.
Some reformers have called for a single nationwide primary to be held on one day. Others point out that requiring candidates to campaign in every state simultaneously would exacerbate the problem of campaigns being dominated by the candidates who raise the most money. Alternative reform concepts would return the presidential primary season to a more relaxed schedule. Fewer primaries in smaller states would allow grassroots campaigns to score early successes and pick up steam. With this idea in mind, a commission empaneled by the Republican Party recommended the Delaware Plan in 2000; however, populous states objected to the plan because it would have always scheduled their primaries at the end of the season. The Delaware Plan was put to vote at Republican National Convention of 2000 and rejected.
Primary elections
Types of primaries
List of primaries
Related articles