Primary Elections Battle for the Party Nomination

Primary Election Process of choosing a candidate to represent your party in the general elections Each party sends one candidate to the general elections to run for president Each state can determine how they will hold their primary elections Caucus Open Primary Closed Primary

Caucus Voting method that brings voters most directly into the political system Caucus’s are held in local community buildings The future President of the United States may receive their first votes in a high school gym Iowa’s caucus is the first presidential election of the season

IowaIowa Caucus First election event of a presidential candidates run to the White House Gives candidates with a strong showing a jump start in the election process Positives Consensus Pick Little Guy Matters Free Media Exposure Negatives 2 Hours to make it happen! Only 10% votes Iowa is.07% of U.S. population Non secret ballot

States with a Caucus Alaska, Colorado Idaho Kansas Minnesota North Dakota Iowa Nevada Nebraska Washington Maine Wyoming Texas

Open Primary Voters may cast a ballot for any candidate from any party Positives Independent or conflicted voters still have a voice Opens up more options to voters Negatives True party members voice is diluted SabotagingSabotaging opponents

New Hampshire New Hampshire Primary New Hampshire State Statute 653:9 stipulates that the primary must take place at least seven days before any “similar election” in any other state. Candidates with a good showing gain momentum for the rest of the primary season 45% of voters are undeclared A win in New Hampshire boosts a candidate’s share of the final primary count in all the other states by 27 percentage points.

New Hampshire/Iowa In recent years their elections received about as much media attention as all the other state primaries combined. Iowa generated approximately $17.5 million in 2012 from media In 2008 candidates in both parties spent $21.1 million in New Hampshire

Open Primary States Alabama Arkansas Georgia Idaho Indiana Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri North Dakota South Carolina Tennessee Texas* Vermont Virginia Wisconsin

ClosedClosed Primary Votes may only cast a ballot for candidates from their registered party Positives Only true party members get to vote Protects against “sabotage” Negatives Excludes independent voters Members of an incumbent's party have no say

Closed Primary States Arizona California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Kentucky Maryland Massachusetts Nebraska New Mexico New York North Carolina OklahomaOregonPennsylvania Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Dakota Utah West Virginia

Blanket Primary Voters choose candidates for each office regardless of party affiliation Can vote twice Obama and Romney

National Primary One big primary Cons Would require immense amounts of funding Lesser known candidates would struggle Pro Evens out the influence among states

Super Tuesday

Stump Speeches Historic Significance Spinning the Mistakes to make it to the finish line Biden Blunder 57 states? Romney dog story

Democratic NominationNomination Candidates receive the delegate votes from each state based on the amount of support received in that states primary Allows a candidate to lose a state while still receiving votes toward the nomination

Republican NominationNomination Employ a winner take all system in which delegates receive all votes in a states where they win the primary