Presidential elections: primaries and caucuses

The invisible primary The period between when a candidate announces their bid for public office and when the actual primaries take place. It’s also sometimes called the “money primary” since candidates spend most of their time during this period raising money in an effort to show political strength.

Read the article, watch the clip and answer the questions below. http://www.c- spanclassroom.org/Video/2045/CLIP+2016+Presidential+Campaign+in+ New+Hampshire.aspx How does he describe the importance of the invisible primary? What does it involve? What is his opinion? How do the dynamics around the “invisible primary” and campaign finance potentially disrupt the democratic process? HOMEWORK

Word/Term Definition Candidate A person who seeks to be elected to political office Caucus A meeting of party leaders, including registered voters, to select candidates to run for political office Closed Primary A  primary in which people must belong to a certain political party in order to vote in that primary Frontloading To concentrate maximum effort on the beginning stages of a process (e.g., holding a large number of primary elections early in an election year) Legislature The branch of government that makes the laws (federal, state, and/or local) Nomination Choosing a candidate for political office Open Primary A primary in which people are allowed to vote in that primary even if they are not registered with a political party Primary A preliminary election in which voters choose whom they will nominate to represent a specific political party in an election

AMENDMENT 10 - POWERS OF THE STATES AND PEOPLE. RATIFIED 12/15/1791  The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. The Tenth Amendment provides states with the right to determine the system in which they select delegates to attend the National Conventions. States conduct primaries and caucuses where voters cast their ballots for delegates who will represent them at the National Conventions.   At the conventions, the delegates vote to select their party’s candidate for President of the United States. These systems have evolved over time. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4504411/primaries-caucuses

The history of primaries http://www.c-spanclassroom.org/Lesson/2220/Bell+Ringer+History+of+the+Presidential+Primary+System.aspx Explain how presidential primaries were first started in the early 20th century, including Theodore Roosevelt's role.   What role did presidential primaries play from 1914 to 1920?    Describe how the presidential primary election system worked from 1920 to 1970.    How did that system break down after the 1968 Democratic Convention?   What was the McGovern-Fraser Commission? Describe its impact of the presidential primary system.

Primary and Caucus systems Who determines which system will be implemented in each state? What are some basic differences between the two systems that are expressed in this video? https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4504413/caucus-primary-systems

Primary and Caucus systems https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4504414/can-vote Who can vote in primaries? https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4504416/republican-democratic- primaries Who makes the rules regarding the allocation of delegates in each party? Distinguish the difference between each. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4504417/proportional-winner-take- all What are the differences between the Proportional and the Winner- Take-All systems? How does this differ for the Democratic Party in the general election?

Unpledged Super Delegates When voters cast their ballots in the primaries, they are actually voting for delegates who will represent them at the National Convention. Voters expect their pledged delegates to represent their votes for the candidate who they selected to be president. What about the unpledged Super Delegates? Who are they? Do they exist in both the Republican and Democratic parties? https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4504419/pledged-delegates- unpledged-super-delegates HOMEWORK