Chapter 13 Section 4 Objective: To understand the roles of primaries, caucuses, and conventions as parts of the nominating process

A. The Role of Conventions  1. Extent of control by law  * There is little legal control over the convention process  * Conventions are left up to the parties’ control

2. Convention Arrangements  * The national committee of each party calls a convention in the summer of each presidential election year.  * The choice of its location is an important one  * 2004 Democrats Boston Republicans New York City  * 2000 Democrats LA Republicans Philadelphia

3. The Apportionment of Delegates  * The party tells each state how many delegates it may send  * The number is based on the state’s electoral vote, with bonus delegates for those states that have supported the party in recent years

4. Selection of Delegates  * State laws and/or party rules fix the procedures for selection of convention delegates  * The procedure differs from state to state  * Super delegates vs. elected delegates  * ,161 Democratic delegates needed to win the nomination

B. Presidential Primaries  1. History  * Presidential primaries were first held in the early 1900’s  * Today 42 states hold some form of primary  2. Primaries today  * Delegate selection processes/or elections in which votes can express their preference for Presidential candidates  * Democrats have banned the winner-take-all system and opted for a system of proportional representation  * More than half the states with primaries are only presidential preference primaries..delegates not directly elected.

C. Evaluation of the Presidential Primaries  1. Primaries democratize the Presidential nomination process and force office seekers to test their candidacy before the public.  2. Unlike the party in power, the party out of power usually has a hard-fought primary campaign.  3. Calls for a national primary or a small number of regional primaries will probably not be successful..why?

D. Caucuses and Conventions  1. The caucus-convention process is the oldest method for selecting national convention delegates.  2. States that do not have primaries choose convention delegates through precinct level caucuses and local, district, and state conventions.