Primary elections

Political parties choose their Presidential nominees through primary elections and party caucuses (meetings). In these state contests the major political parties—the Democrats and Republicans—select delegates to attend their party conventions. Primary voters and caucus participants choose delegates who will support their favored candidate at the convention. The party conventions, held in the summer before the November general election, formally nominate the winner of the primaries and caucuses. Would-be candidates crisscross the states that hold the earliest primaries, especially New Hampshire, which holds the country's first primary, usually in mid-February. Most contenders³³ also wage campaigns to win Iowa's party caucuses, which are usually held in February as well. These states are widely regarded as indicators of a candidate's chances in the overall primary process and in the general election. As a result, voters in the states with early primaries receive lavish attention from the primary contenders and the news media. In most states, only a party's registered voters can vote in the party primary. Some states, however, have open primaries, which allow voters to wait until Election Day to choose the party primary that they want to vote in. The expense and physical strain of campaigning across the dispersed primary states winnows the field of candidates. Many drop out due to lack of finances or after poor showings in the early contests.

Party conventions

  Party conventions have historically been tense, dramatic events as candidates struggled to organize enough delegate support to win the nomination. At the 1924 Democratic Convention, for example, delegates voted more than 100 times before settling on a candidate. Because more states adopted the primary system in the second half of the 20th century, most recent Democratic and Republican conventions created little suspense over the selection of a candidate. Because the outcome is often known in advance, the nominating conventions are usually symbolic affairs, serving to publicize the party's candidates and rally voter support in the months before the election.

Regardless of whether the party's choice is evident in advance, party conventions follow a carefully scripted routine. Parties begin their conventions by writing a party platform that outlines their political program for the country. Drafting the platform and winning the convention's support of this document marks an important milestone because it shows that the party has reached agreement between its competing factions.

After the platform has been approved by the convention, party leaders and invited guests make speeches to the convention delegates. During the speeches and party ceremonies, the potential candidates and their assistants roam through the convention to assess the strength of their support and to try to sway a majority of delegates to vote for their nomination. If a candidate has been particularly effective in the primary elections before the convention, he or she is likely to win the party nomination on the first or second convention vote. If the leading contender³³ fails to win a majority of delegate votes and begins to lose votes on subsequent ballots, another contender may emerge as a compromise candidate.

As soon as the candidate wins the convention's nomination and gives his or her acceptance speech, the candidate and party leaders try to repair the divisions that tend to emerge during the convention. If the winning candidate has not already named his Vice-Presidential running mate, the choice is announced at the convention. The candidate must try to establish an image as a national leader who has experience in foreign and domestic affairs, and who is capable of attracting voter support in critical states. Equally important, the candidate must raise millions of dollars to pay for campaign costs, including funds for travel and an extensive network of campaign headquarters, but especially to pay for television advertisements.

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