GENERAL AND PRIMARY ELECTIONS

Wilson 10 B

Kinds of Elections

General election – choose the candidate who will hold office

Primary election – choose candidate to run for officeClosed primary – limited to already registered party

membersOpen primary – voters choose the party ballot they

want to vote Blanket primary – voters may vote for candidates

from both partiesRunoff primary – second vote if no one wins first

primary

Primary Campaign

Ideological Voters Media attention Mobilization

DonorsVolunteersCaucus

○ Iowa is first○ Frontrunner in media○ Dem = liberal○ Rep = conservative

General Campaign

Advertising News interviews Debates Internet Issues

Positional = differences between candidatesValence = similarities, trust of public

○ symbols, image, center, slogan, theme

Difficulty

TV spots– more valence, biggest part of name recognition

Visuals – interviews, news headlines, free, credibility with voters, “trackers”

Slip of the tongue Flip-flop Gaffe

Resolution

Preference for visuals Resort to stump speeches Rely on surrogates Value of the debates Direct mailers

Narrow castingTargeted

Professional consultants