Selecting a President: Nominating Conventions. Stage 1: Caucuses & Primaries The Battle for the...
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Transcript of Selecting a President: Nominating Conventions. Stage 1: Caucuses & Primaries The Battle for the...
Selecting a President:Selecting a President:
Nominating Conventions
Stage 1: Caucuses & Primaries The Battle for the Party Faithful
Stage 2: Nominating Conventions “Glorified Infomercials?”
Stage 3: General Election The Fight for the Center
Stage 4: Electoral CollegePower to the People?
Presidential SelectionPresidential Selection
Presidential Nominating Conventions:
The Nuts & Bolts
Barack and Michelle Obama at the 2004 Democratic National Convention
Nominating ConventionsNominating Conventions•An assembly held by
political parties every four years
•Usually held in late summer before the general election in November
•The Democratic and Republican parties hold nominating conventions as do third parties [ex: Green Party, Libertarian Party]
George W. and Laura Bush at the 2000 Republican
Convention
Purposes of Nominating Purposes of Nominating ConventionsConventions
1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit, Michigan1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit, Michigan
1. Delegates at the convention adopt a party platform.
2. Delegates to the convention elect that party’s nominees for President and Vice-president.
What’s a Party Platform?What’s a Party Platform?
• Party Platform - a statement of principles and objectives a political party and a candidate supports in order to win the general election.
• Plank - Individual topics in a party’s platform (ex: abortion, war in Iraq)
Cartoon satirizing the 1896 Cartoon satirizing the 1896 Democratic Party PlatformDemocratic Party Platform
2004 Platform Themes2004 Platform Themes
Democratic Party:
“Strong at Home,
Respected in the World”
Republican Party:“A Safer World
and a More Hopeful
America”
How are these themes similar? Different?
Who are Who are DelegatesDelegates??
Delegate - A voting representative to the party nominating convention
Delegate SelectionDelegate Selection
Proportional System Primary system used by
the Democratic Party Candidates are allocated
the same percentage of a state’s delegates as they received in popular votes
Pro’s & con’s of the proportional system?
Winner-take-all System
System used in most Republican primaries
The winner of the popular vote in that state receives all that state’s delegates
Pro’s & con’s of the winner-take-all system?
Democratic Party Rules:Democratic Party Rules:Two Types of DelegatesTwo Types of Delegates
Pledged Delegates Pledged Delegates v. v. SuperdelegatesSuperdelegates
Pledged DelegatesPledged Delegates
Pledged delegates count during the 2008 Democratic primaries
Each state allotted certain number of delegates who vote at the party’s convention
Pledged delegates are chosen at state & local level
Pledged delegates are required to cast a vote at the convention based on the results of the primary or caucus in their state
Members of the Democratic Party establishment who
serve as unpledged delegates at the
party convention Include members
of Congress, governors, and members of the D.N.C.
They are free to vote for any candidate at the convention
Superdelegates
Brokered ConventionBrokered Convention A situation in which no one candidate in a
political party has received enough delegates in the primaries and caucuses to obtain a majority
After the first ballot at the party’s convention, nominee decided
through horse-trading and further ballots
Thomas Dewey (R) in 1948 and Adlai Stevenson (D) in 1952 last two candidates selected through brokered conventions; neither
won the general election Brainstorm potential positive and negative
consequences of a brokered convention.
Democrats avoided a brokered convention in 2008
Convention Speeches: Convention Speeches: The Keynote AddressThe Keynote Address
The speech given at the convention that embodies that party’s core message
Why do you think Democrats choose Barrack Obama and Republicans Zell Miller to deliver the 2004 Keynote Addresses?
Democrat Zell Miller delivers the 2004 RNC Keynote Address
Senator Barrack Obama gives the 2004 DNC Keynote Address
Convention Speeches: Convention Speeches: The Acceptance AddressThe Acceptance Address
The speech given at the final day of the convention in which the winning candidate formally accepts the party’s nomination for president
The Acceptance Address is always televised by the major networks
1960 presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon deliver their Acceptance Addresses at their party’s national convention
Critics say that party nominating Critics say that party nominating conventions have become no more than conventions have become no more than
infomercials.infomercials.
1992 Democratic National Convention in New York City
What do you think?What do you think?
http://www.rightyblogs.com
1920 Republican Convention
• Today candidates secure their party’s nomination during the primaries
• But in 1920 there was no clear nominee going into the Republican Convention
By Patrick Chappatte, The International Herald Tribune 09/21/2004
http://www.politicalcartoons.com/
Schwarzenegger Rocks Republican Convention
By Paresh Nath, National Herald, New Delhi, India 3/17/08 http://cagle.msnbc.com
2008 -- The Final Three
Superdelegates
By John Trever, The Albuquerque Journal 03/30/2008 http://www.politicalcartoons.com/