I confess to being as confused about your system as you say you are about ours.We have basically a two party system, Democrats/Liberals on the left and Republicans/Conservatives on the right. I’d tell you how these parties compare with your political parties, but I truthfully don’t know although it has been explained to me many times.
To greatly simplify, in presidential elections, voters in each state elect delegates to the Electoral College where the actual votes for president are cast. It’s a winner take all system, so by the end of election day, the results are known (the Electoral College having become something of a mere formality).
To greatly simplify, in presidential elections, voters in each state elect delegates to the Electoral College where the actual votes for president are cast. It’s a winner take all system, so by the end of election day, the results are known (the Electoral College having become something of a mere formality).
Answering the easy questions first:
Q. Does everyone get to vote for the president as well as for their local representative?
A. Yes. Eligible voters may vote in all elections, presidential, state, city, town, hamlet ...
Q. Do the candidates who have battled each other for nomination become campaign buddies for their party once the decision is made?
A. Yes – for the most part.
Q. Caucuses? Are they merely gatherings of like minded people who get together informally to choose a candidate to endorse.
A. Yes, but naturally, as in all things, the devil is in the details.
Q. The Primary System?
Prior to Kennedy, politicians in smoke-filled rooms met and chose their party’s nominees. After the conventions, traditionally held in August, there would be a short hiatus and the election campaign would start in earnest after Labor Day (first Monday after the first Tuesday in September / Election Day is the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November every four years).
Joseph Kennedy knowing his son would never be nominated the old-fashioned way, contrived to wrest the nomination process away from the party faithful by forcing voters registered in each party to vote in primaries to pick delegates to the presidential conventions in as many states as he could strong-arm party members to organize.
It worked. When Kennedy arrived at the convention in 1960, he was armed with a lot of delegates. As you can imagine, the old timers didn’t like the situation and there was a lot of old fashioned chicanery.
In fact, that convention, televised raw and unedited, was so eye-opening to an impressionable young mother like myself, that I never again thought of believing anything coming from the Democratic party and I’ve never had occasion to change my mind since.
So the primary system was born and now anyone who was born in the U.S. can enter the presidential race by tossing his or her hat in the ring. It’s hugely expensive because the campaign cycle begins practically before the ballots from the previous one have had a chance to cool off.
Each of the 50 states plus Guam, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, etc. has its own nomination process and the organization required is immense, ditto TV ads, mailings, etc.
Potential candidates needn’t be gazillionaires, but it’s necessary that they be able to raise huge pots of money. The primary process is further complicated because some states have a winner take all for delegates and some have proportional delegate representation.
Joseph Kennedy knowing his son would never be nominated the old-fashioned way, contrived to wrest the nomination process away from the party faithful by forcing voters registered in each party to vote in primaries to pick delegates to the presidential conventions in as many states as he could strong-arm party members to organize.
It worked. When Kennedy arrived at the convention in 1960, he was armed with a lot of delegates. As you can imagine, the old timers didn’t like the situation and there was a lot of old fashioned chicanery.
In fact, that convention, televised raw and unedited, was so eye-opening to an impressionable young mother like myself, that I never again thought of believing anything coming from the Democratic party and I’ve never had occasion to change my mind since.
So the primary system was born and now anyone who was born in the U.S. can enter the presidential race by tossing his or her hat in the ring. It’s hugely expensive because the campaign cycle begins practically before the ballots from the previous one have had a chance to cool off.
Each of the 50 states plus Guam, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, etc. has its own nomination process and the organization required is immense, ditto TV ads, mailings, etc.
Potential candidates needn’t be gazillionaires, but it’s necessary that they be able to raise huge pots of money. The primary process is further complicated because some states have a winner take all for delegates and some have proportional delegate representation.
Q. Super Tuesday?
In their zeal to be the first primary in the country, various states had been juggling their primary dates around in a dizzying fashion, so to avoid further confusion, a whole bunch of them agreed on the first Tuesday of February and so Super (Dooper) Tuesday was born.
Q. (not asked). A Brokered Convention?
It’s conceivable that in one or both parties, none of the candidates will arrive at their convention in August with enough delegates to win the nomination, so we may see a new version of the old smoke-filled room deciding who the candidates shall be!
___________Q. The Candidates?
The Democrats: Hillary, senator from New York State, is a lawyer and an experienced politician. Obama, senator from the state of the state of Illinois, is a facile speaker, with a very sparse resume.
The Republicans: Romney, a successful businessman was governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. McCain, senator from the state of Arizona, is a war hero and former POW.
The Republicans: Romney, a successful businessman was governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. McCain, senator from the state of Arizona, is a war hero and former POW.
A quick Google will give you plenty more information on the candidates.
2 comments:
Thanks for all of this, and the extra information on my blog, e. I feel more able to follow the new reports now.
Of course I meant 'news' reports!
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