Contents
Introduction
Chapter I. PresidentialCandidates
Chapter II. The NominationProcess
Chapter III. TheNominating Conventions
Chapter IV. The GeneralElection Campaign
Chapter V. The ElectoralCollege
Chapter VI. Inauguration
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
‘Presidential elections’ is one of the most serious and weightiest issuesthat prompt increased interest and debates among people all over the world.Election is an opportunity to decide who will make responsible decisions orrule the country during the next several years. It is a crucial mechanism thatplays a great role in society and state organization, and thus, in life ofevery individual in particular. The procedure varies in different countries,each of which has its own laws, activities, and customs that govern this contentiousformula.
The purpose of our investigation is to study, describe and revealadvantages and disadvantages of this significant process in the country thatclaims to have the most unbiased and impartial system of electing its president– the United States of America.
In theresearch the following goals are pursued:
1. to getacquainted with the candidates for the presidency themselves, theirqualifications for office, the procedure for gaining ballot access, the stagesof their campaigns, and the protection accorded them by the federal government.
2. toillustrate the nomination process, describing the evolution of the currentsystem of primaries and caucuses, the basic structure, methods and rulesgoverning selection of delegates to the nominating conventions, and the majorcharacteristics of the contemporary process;
3. toexamine the national party conventions, including both their evolution andtraditions, and contemporary structure and procedures;
4. toanalyze the general election campaign, single out widely used campaign methods,examine the important role played by television — through advertising, newscoverage, and debates, and present information on Election Day itself;
5. toevaluate the information on the Electoral College, to understand the process bywhich the President and Vice President are officially elected;
6. todescribe the formal ceremony of presidential inauguration, including theinformation about its time and place.
All thesetasks are realized in six chapters of the research which are closely connectedand complement one another.
In theresearch the following methods are used:
1. analysisof various sources of information: books, encyclopedias, publications inmagazines, newspapers, the Internet;
2. compilationof this information;
3. comparativeanalysis of the facts.
Chapter I.Presidential Candidates
The basic process of selecting the President of the United States isspelled out in the U.S. Constitution, and it has been modified by the 12th,22nd, and 23rd amendments. Every four years, Americans elect a President andVice President, thereby choosing both national leaders and a course of publicpolicy. The system that governs the election of the President combinesconstitutional and statutory requirements, rules of the national and statepolitical parties, political traditions, and contemporary developments andpractices.
Article II, section 1 of the Constitution specifies that, no personexcept a natural-born citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoptionof this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neithershall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to theage of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the UnitedStates. Under the 22nd Amendment, no one may serve more than two full terms,although a Vice President who succeeds to the presidency and serves less thantwo full years of the prior incumbent’s term may seek election to twoadditional terms.
American voters have chosen men of varied backgrounds on 55 occasionsthey have gone to the polls to elect a President. All American Presidentsserved the country previously either in government or the military. Of the 24Presidents who served prior to 1900, seven had been Vice Presidents, four wereMembers of Congress, four were governors, and nine previously held anappointive federal position. The trend in the 20th and 21st centurypresidential elections has favored former Vice Presidents, Governors, andSenators. The previous occupations of American Presidents of this period were:career Army officers, cabinet officers (e.g. Taft and Hoover), governors (e.g.Wilson, F.D. Roosevelt, Clinton), Senators (e.g. Kennedy) and Vice Presidents(e.g. T. Roosevelt, Truman, Nixon).
Before the primaries and conventions, the candidates determine thepresidential field. The decline of party leader dominance over the nominatingprocess has resulted in a system whereby self-selected candidates compete inthe states for the delegates needed for nomination. The democratization of thenominating process has meant that many candidates enter the race, begin raisingmoney, and organize for the primaries and caucuses well before the electionyear in order to be competitive. In reality, only a small number of these areconsidered by the media as serious candidates seeking the nomination of the twomajor parties.
The formal announcement of candidacy is often preceded by a period inwhich candidates “test the waters” as unannounced candidates for nomination;this may begin several years before the convention. Likely candidates may formexploratory committees to gauge popular support and to begin developing a baseof supporters and contributors, while avoiding some of the legal requirementsof the Federal Election Campaign Act’s (FECA). As unofficial candidates who arenot technically campaigning for office, persons may raise and spend unlimitedamounts of money without registering as candidates with the Federal ElectionCommission (FEC). Upon declaration of candidacy, however, the individual mustregister with the FEC and report all financial activity while testing thewaters; these amounts become retroactively subject to all FECA regulations.
An individual must file a statement of candidacy with the FEC within 15days of reaching the law’s financial threshold (i.e., $5,000 in receipts orexpenditures), and must name a principal campaign committee to receivecontributions and make expenditures. This committee must file a statement oforganization with the FEC within ten days after being designated; the statementmust identify the committee’s title (which includes the candidate’s name), thetreasurer, bank depositories, and any other committees the candidate hasauthorized to raise or spend on his or her behalf. Such other committees whichthe candidate authorizes may raise and spend funds, but they must report suchactivity through the principal committee.
The timing of the formal announcement is crucial because of its politicalimpact, and also because of the legal and tactical implications. Once a publicdeclaration of candidacy is made, candidates are subject to state and nationalspending limits if they qualify for and choose to accept public matching funds,and they are subject to the broadcasting provisions of the equal-time rule.
Nominations today are usually won during the primary campaign rather thanat the convention, and primaries have proliferated and been scheduled earlierin the election year. Because of these developments, competitors are pressed toannounce their candidacies much earlier than in years past.
The guidelines that candidates follow to qualify for primaries andcaucuses differ from state to state. In primary states, the Secretary of Stateis the authority for listing candidate names on the ballot; in caucus states,the parties oversee the procedures for candidates to gain ballot access.
Candidates generally file a statement of candidacy with the Secretary ofState or the party chair at the state level. In some primary states, theSecretary of State may automatically certify for the ballot the names of allmajor party candidates, those submitted by the party, candidates who havequalified in other states or candidates who have applied with the FEC or areeligible for federal matching funds. Presidential candidates may also berequired to pay a filing fee, submit petitions, or both. Signatures may berequired from a requisite number of voters in each congressional district orfrom a requisite number of voters statewide.
The primary season gradually reduces the field of major party candidates.The accelerated pace of the present system winnows out those who fall short ofexpectations, and hence, find it difficult to raise the money needed to sustaintheir candidacies. Furthermore, the reforms of the past 30 years have changedthe dynamics of the nominating process by closely tying the allocation ofdelegates to electoral performance. The days when a candidate could compete ina select number of primaries to demonstrate popular appeal have passed: thenomination goes to the candidate who has amassed a majority of delegates in theprimaries and caucuses. Party conventions have largely become ratifying bodiesthat confer the nomination on the candidate who won it in state contests. The1976 Republican National Convention was the most recent one at which thedetermination of a major party’s nominee was in any real doubt before thenominating ballots were cast [3;221].
The names of the major party nominees for President and Vice Presidentare automatically placed on the general election ballot. Some states also listthe names of presidential electors adjacent to the presidential and vicepresidential candidates whom they support. Voters mark their ballots once for aparty’s presidential and vice presidential ticket; electors also cast a singlevote in the Electoral College for the party ticket. Minor party and independentcandidates are also listed on the ballot, if they qualify according toprovisions of the state codes, and several such candidates are usually on theballot in different states.
In the aftermath of the 1968 assassination of Senator Robert Kennedywhile he was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, Congress passedlegislation which, for the first time, authorized Secret Service protection ofpresidential and vice presidential candidates. The law made the Secretary ofthe Treasury responsible for determining which major candidates are eligiblefor protection, after consultation with a bipartisan advisory committeecomprised of the Majority and Minority Leaders of the Senate, the Speaker andMinority Leader of the House of Representatives, and one additional member tobe chosen by the committee. On occasion, candidates have declined protectionoffered to them.
While the law provides protection for major party presidential and vicepresidential nominees in the general election, it does not specify the criteriafor determining major candidates in the primary season. However, criteria andstandards in the advisory committee’s guidelines specify that an eligible individual:(1) is a publicly declared candidate; (2) is actively campaigning nationallyand is contesting at least 10 state primaries; (3) is pursuing the nominationof a qualified party (i.e., whose presidential candidate received at least 10%of the popular vote in the prior election); (4) has qualified for publicmatching funds of at least $100,000, and has raised at least $2 million inadditional contributions; and (5) as of April 1 of the election year, hasreceived at least an average of five percent in individual candidatepreferences in the most recent national opinion polls by ABC, CBS, NBC, andCNN, or has received at least 10% of the votes cast for all candidates in twosame-day or consecutive primaries or caucuses[8]. Notwithstanding this, the Secretaryof the Treasury, after consultation with the advisory committee, may provideprotection for a candidate even if all of the conditions of the guidelines havenot been met. Secret Service protection for primary candidates generally beginsshortly after January 1 of the election year. On occasion, the Secretary of theTreasury has accorded protection to certain candidates earlier than theelection year.
Chapter II. The Nomination Process
The nomination process is the initial testing ground for the nextpresident. It plays an essential role in presidential elections by narrowingthe field of major party candidates. The process of nominating a presidentialcandidate begins months before the convention. The most important step in theprocess is the selection of convention delegates. At the convention, eachdelegate votes for a presidential candidate. The candidate who gets a majorityof the delegate votes wins the party’s nomination.
Delegate selection takes place in elections and other state contests thatoccur during the late winter and spring of each presidential election year.Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands and other U.S.territories also send delegates to the conventions.
The national committee of each party decides how many delegates eachstate may send to the convention. The number is based on the party’s strengthin the state in recent elections. Thousands of delegates attend eachconvention, but exact numbers vary from year to year.
As there are two major competing political parties in the USA it makessense to take a closer look at them.
The Democratic Party has two basic types of delegates, grouped by whetheror not they are pledged to support a particular candidate. Furthermore, thereare three categories of pledged delegates (which comprise the majority ofdelegates to the convention) and four categories of unpledged delegates.
The allocation formula determines only the number of delegates in thepledged categories: (1) district-level base delegates; (2) at-large base delegates;and (1) pledged party and elected official delegates.
Of the number of delegates assigned to a state according to theallocation formula, 75 % are assigned at the district level and 25 % aredesignated at-large. Although district-level and at-large delegates areallocated in the same manner, they are chosen separately at different stages ofthe process.
Pledged party and elected official delegates represent a 15% addition tothe base number of allocated delegates. They are usually chosen in the same manneras the at-large delegates.
The number of unpledged delegates for a state depends on the number ofindividuals available in each specified category. Delegate slots are allocatedfor: (1) former Democratic Presidents and Vice Presidents, former DemocraticMajority Leaders of the U.S. Senate, former Democratic Speakers of the U.S.House of Representatives, and all former Chairs of the Democratic NationalCommittee; (2) Democratic Governors; (3) members of the Democratic NationalCommittee (DNC), including the State chairs and vice chairs and officers of theDNC; and (4) all Democratic Members of the U.S. Senate and House ofRepresentatives.
Aside from three congressional district delegates and six at-largedelegates assigned to each state under Republican allocation rules, a number ofbonus delegates may be awarded for the at-large category as well.
Four and one-half at-large bonus delegates are assigned to each statewhich cast its electoral votes for the Republican nominee in the previouselection. One bonus delegate is allocated to each State in which a Republicanwas elected to the Senate or the Governorship between the last and the upcomingpresidential election. One bonus delegate is also allocated to states in whichhalf the delegation to the House of Representatives is Republican. (In 1996, 15at-large delegates have been allocated to the District of Columbia, Puerto Ricohas been allocated 14 at-large delegates, and four delegates have beenallocated each to Guam and the Virgin Islands.)
The national party also awards bonus delegates to states where theprimary or caucus is held after mid-March of the election year. In states wherethe primary or caucus is scheduled between March 15 and April 14, a 5% increase to the national convention delegation is awarded; a 7½% increase is awardedto state parties with contests scheduled between April 15 and May 14; and, a10% increase is awarded to states where the primary or caucus is held betweenMay 15 and the third Tuesday in June [11].
State parties have considerable flexibility to determine the means ofelecting or choosing the district and at-large delegates, according to nationalparty rules.
There are two main methods of choosing which delegate candidates willattend the convention as delegates. They are the primary election system andthe caucus-convention system. Some states allow each party to choose which ofthe two systems it will use.
At one time, political parties nominated nearly all candidates atnational, state, and local conventions or in caucuses. A caucus is a meeting ofparty members or leaders to select nominees for public office and to conductother party business. In the presidential nominating process, it is often usedin combination with a state convention to elect delegates to the nationalnominating convention. The caucus-convention process is typically comprised ofseveral tiers, beginning with broad-based meetings of rank-and-file partymembers, usually at the precinct level. Because of their cumbersome nature,precinct caucuses invariably attract fewer voters than do primaries.Participants must invest substantial time to attend a caucus, in contrast tovoting in a primary, and participants usually register their support for apresidential candidate by public declaration (by a show of hands or bygathering in groups according to presidential preference). In some places,caucus participants may vote by ballot for presidential candidates, but, in anyevent, the process requires face-to-face contact with other participants thatis not required when casting a ballot at a polling place.
Once the presidential preference vote is tallied, caucus participantselect representatives for their preference who attend the meeting convened asthe next stage in the process. Precinct caucuses are usually followed by countyor congressional district meetings, with a smaller number of representativesselected at each stage—based on support for them or the candidate they favor—togo on to the next level. Delegates to the national convention are finallychosen by the representatives to the congressional district caucus or the stateconvention, or both.
A primary is a state-run election for the purpose of nominating partycandidates to run in the general election. In a primary election, a politicalparty, in effect, holds an election among its own members who will represent itin the coming general election. Any number of party members can run for anoffice in a primary. But only the winning candidate can represent the party inthe general election. Parties learn from the primary votes which candidates themembers of their parties prefer. When several candidates enter a primary, thewinner may receive less than 50 percent of the vote. Some states, especially inthe South, then hold a run-off primary, in which the two candidates with thehighest number of votes run against each other.
Nearly all states have a binding primary, in which the results of theelection legally bind some or all of the delegates to vote for a particularcandidate at the national convention, for a certain number of ballots or untilthe candidate releases the delegates. A handful of states practice a non-bindingprimary, which may select candidates to a state convention which then selectsdelegates. Also, presidential preference contests exist, which are merely«beauty contests» or straw polls that do not result in the selectionof any delegates, which are instead chosen at caucuses. Both parties have ruleswhich designate superdelegates.
In most states, only voters registered with a party may vote in thatparty's primary, known as a closed primary. In some states, a semi-closedprimary is practiced, in which voters unaffiliated with a party (independents)may choose a party primary in which to vote. In an open primary, any voter mayvote in any party's primary. In all of these systems, a voter may participatein only one primary; that is, a voter who casts a vote for a candidate standingfor the Republican nomination for president cannot cast a vote for a candidatestanding for the Democratic nomination, or vice versa. A few states once stageda blanket primary, in which voters could vote for one candidate in multipleprimaries, but the practice was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in the2000 case of California Democratic Party v. Jones as violating the freedom ofassembly guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Under the 2008 Democratic Party selection rules, adopted in 2006,delegates are selected under proportional representation, with a candidaterequiring a minimum threshold of 15% in a state in order to receive delegates.In addition, the Democratic Party has the right to reject any candidate undertheir bylaws. Each state publishes a Delegate Selection Plan that notes themechanics of calculating the number of delegates per congressional district,and how votes are transferred from local conventions to the state and nationalconvention. The Republican Party adopted its rules at the time of the 2004convention. There are no provisions requiring proportional representation, andas such, many states used the winner take all method in 2004 [13].
Chapter III. The Nominating Conventions
presidentialcandidate inauguration electoral
The United States presidential nominating convention is held every fouryears in the United States by the political parties who will be fieldingnominees in the upcoming U.S. presidential election. The formal purpose of sucha convention is to select the party's nominee for President, as well as toadopt a statement of party principles and goals known as the platform and adoptthe rules for the party's activities, including the presidential nominatingprocess for the next election cycle.
The writers of the Constitution of the United States did not outline aprocedure for nominating a President. Until the early 1830’s, a party’ssupporters in Congress or in state legislatures usually nominated the party’scandidate for President.
The Anti-Masonic Party held the first national nominating convention inSeptember 1832. The first convention that closely resembled today’s gatheringswas that of the Democratic-Republican Party in 1832. Soon, the conventionbecame the established procedure in the United States for nominatingpresidential candidates[1;381].
Due to changes in election laws and the manner in which politicalcampaigns are run, conventions since the last quarter of the 20th century havevirtually abdicated their original roles, and are today mostly ceremonialaffairs. The two major conventions are the Democratic National Convention andthe Republican National Convention. Some minor parties also select theirnominees by convention, including the Green Party, Libertarian Party, ConstitutionParty, and Reform Party USA.
The convention cycle begins with the official “call” to the convention,customarily issued by the national committees of the two major parties some 18months in advance. The “call” is an invitation from the national party to thestate and territory parties to convene to select a presidential nominee. Italso sets out the number of delegates to be awarded to each, as well as therules for the nomination process.
The convention is typically held in a major city selected by the nationalparty organization 18–24 months before it is to be held. As the two majorconventions have grown into large, publicized affairs with significant economicimpact, cities today compete vigorously to be awarded host responsibilities,citing their meeting venues, lodging facilities, and entertainment as well asoffering economic incentives.
The location of early conventions was dictated by the difficulty oftransporting delegates from far-flung parts of the country; early Democraticand Whig Conventions were frequently held in the central Eastern Seaboard portof Baltimore, Maryland. As the U.S. expanded westward and railroads connectedcities, Midwestern cities such as Chicago, Illinois became the favored hosts[8]. In the present day, political symbolism affects the selection of the hostcity as much as economic or logistical ones do. A particular city might beselected to enhance the standing of a native son, or in an effort to curryfavor with residents of that state.
Although conventions of both the Democratic and Republican parties areopened by a temporary presiding officer, election of a permanent chair isusually one of the first points in the order of business. The Permanent Chair,who presides for the balance of the convention, is usually a senior partyfigure, most often the party leader in the House of Representatives. Theparty’s national committee also designates a person to kick off the conventionwith a rousing speech called the keynote address. Members of Congress or otherimportant party members usually are chosen for these positions. The committeealso picks a convention site.
Much of the convention’s official business is carried out by specialcommittees. Committees of the national conventions prepare reports for theconventions on delegate credentials, rules of procedure, and party platforms.The full convention ratifies or amends the respective recommendations from eachof these committees.
Contemporary national conventions are generally held over a four-dayperiod, with both the Democratic and Republican parties observing similarschedules. The proceedings are regularly interspersed with films honoring partyfigures. A continuing procession of party notables, usually selected to reflectthe party's diversity, offer short speeches throughout the proceedings, whileclergymen from various denominations offer invocations and benedictions to openand close each session.
The first day of a national convention is generally devoted to routine business.The convention is called to order by the national party chair, the roll ofdelegations is called, and the temporary chair is elected. Welcoming speechesare delivered by the mayor of the host city and often the governor of the statein which the convention is held. Committee appointments, which have beenpreviously announced, are ratified. The Democrats generally install permanentconvention officers at the first session, while the Republicans, in recentyears, have completed adoption of credentials, rules, and the party platformbefore turning over convention proceedings to the permanent chair, usually onthe second or third day.
The Democratic Convention keynote address is also delivered on the firstday of convention proceedings. The Republicans tend to schedule keynotespeeches for later in the convention, usually at the second session. Thekeynote address sets the themes and tone of the convention and often of thegeneral election campaign to follow. The keynote address is highly partisan intone and content. It extols the party record and the incumbent President, whenthe party holds the White House. It attacks the opposition candidates,policies, and record.
Routine convention business often spills over into the second day ofproceedings, as reports of the credentials, rules, and platform committees aredebated and approved by the delegates. While the acceptance of delegatecredentials is usually a perfunctory procedure, in some years credentials havebeen hotly contested as rival slates of delegates from the same state,representing contending factions, were presented.
Adoption of the Rules Committee report, setting convention procedures, isanother important function usually completed on the second day of theconvention. Consideration of the committee report has occasionally beenaccompanied by spirited debate, particularly in a close convention whendelegates have sought to boost their candidate's chances by securing ruleschanges.
Adoption of the party platform is one more task completed on the secondday of a convention, although consideration of proposed amendments to thePlatform Committee draft will occasionally continue into the third day.
The party platform, a statement of principles and policy proposals, isprepared in advance by the Platform Committee, but is sometimes amended on thefloor through minority reports. These reports are filed by those who wereunsuccessful in incorporating their views into the draft version. Considerationof minority reports by the convention is contingent upon obtaining a thresholdlevel of delegate support.
The third day of national conventions is usually reserved for thenomination of the presidential candidate. In recent years, the nomination isaccomplished in one evening, with only one ballot. Delegates officiallyrecommend the nomination of candidates in nominating speeches, in which thespeaker praises the accomplishments of the candidate. Each speech may build to aclimax that triggers a massive demonstration in the convention hall. Delegatesand other supporters of the candidate parade wave banners, throw confetti, andcheer.
The roll call begins after all nominating speeches have been made. In theroll call, each state and territory casts a ballot that indicates how many ofits delegate votes it is awarding to each candidate. The candidate who gets amajority of the votes of all the delegates at the convention formally becomesthe party’s nominee. If no candidate receives a majority, more ballots would becast until enough delegates switch their votes to give one candidate amajority. However, a second ballot has not been required at any Democratic orRepublican national convention since the early 1950’s.
The fourth and final day of the convention is usually dominated by thenomination of thevice presidential candidate and the presidential andvice presidential nominees’acceptance speeches. In a current practiceembraced by both parties, the choice of a vice presidential nominee remains theprerogative of the presidential candidate. The procedure for nominating thevice presidential candidates mirrors that for the presidential candidates, withthe name placed in nomination by a prominent party leader, seconded by others,and followed by a roll call of the states (often a motion to nominate byacclamation occurs in place of the roll call).
Following his or her nomination, the vice presidential candidate deliversan acceptance speech which is followed by the last major activity of theconvention — the presidential nominee’s acceptance speech.
Democratic nominee Franklin Roosevelt, in 1932, was the first candidateboth to appear at a national convention, and to deliver his acceptance inperson. Prior to that time, a committee of party dignitaries customarilyvisited the candidate to inform him of his nomination.
The candidate’s acceptance speech ranks with the keynote address as oneof the highlights of the convention, and it serves as its finale. It providesan opportunity for the nominee to establish the tone, content, and generalthemes of the election campaign to come, while providing incumbent Presidentsrunning for reelection with the opportunity to defend their record and seek arenewed mandate from the voters.
Immediately following the nominee’s acceptance speech, the presidentialnominee is joined on the podium by the vice presidential nominee, theirspouses, families, defeated rivals and other party leaders for the traditionalunity pose. Shortly afterwards, the convention is adjourned sine die.
Chapter IV. The General Election Campaign
Adjournment of the national nominating conventions marks the beginning ofthe next phase of the presidential election process — the general electioncampaign. In the months following the conventions, the candidates, parties, andcampaign organizations seek to build a winning popular and electoral votecoalition.
Labor Day (the first Monday in September) has traditionally marked thestart of the general election campaign. However, in practice the campaignbegins much earlier, because the nominees are known long before the nationalconventions.
The general election campaign is publicly funded through the taxpayercheck-off system. Since public financing was introduced in the 1970s, allDemocratic and Republican candidates have opted to receive federal matchingfunds for the general election; in exchange for such funds, they agree to limittheir spending to an amount equal to the federal matching funds they receiveplus a maximum personal contribution of $50,000. By 2004 each major partynominee received some $75 million [10].
Minor party presidential candidates face formidable barriers. WhereasDemocratic and Republican presidential candidates automatically are listedfirst and second on general election ballots, minor party candidates mustnavigate the complex and varied state laws to gain ballot access. In addition,a new party is eligible for federal financing in an election only if itreceived at least 5 percent of the vote in the previous election. All partiesthat receive at least 25 percent of the vote in the prior presidential electionare entitled to equivalent public funding.
Establishing a general election campaign organization is one of the maintasks of the nominees immediately after the conventions. In recent years,presidential campaigns have been managed by separate candidate-centeredorganizations, ad-hoc groups assembled for the specific purpose of winning theelection [4;260]. After the conventions, these committees are usually expandedfrom the nominee’s primary organization to include key party professionals andstaff from the campaigns of rival contenders for the nomination.
The campaign organization prepares the campaign plan, schedulesappearances by the nominees and surrogate campaigners, conducts opposition andsurvey research, manages the national media campaign, and conducts both voterregistration and get-out- the-vote (GOTV) drives. The organization is organizedon the national, state, and local levels, overlapping, especially on the locallevel, existing party structures. The campaign organization seeks to broadenthe candidate’s appeal beyond committed partisans, bringing his or her messageto the largest number of independent voters possible and to dissatisfiedmembers of the other party.
Campaign plans detail the strategy and tactics which the campaignorganizations and candidates hope will bring a winning combination of electoraland popular votes in the general election. They specify the issues to beemphasized by the nominees and aspects of the candidates’ personal image theyhope to project to the voters. They include: plans of attack on the platform,issues, and candidates of the opposition; targeting of socioeconomic, ethnic,and religious groups deemed to be most amenable to the campaign message;assessments of the ticket’s strengths and weaknesses in various states; anddecisions on which geographic areas the candidates should concentrate in orderto assemble an electoral college majority.
Campaign plans, while often quite detailed, tend to be flexible. Theyseek to anticipate possible events, emerging issues, and fluctuations in voterattitudes, allowing candidate and organization activities to be adjusted or“fine tuned” in order to strengthen the ticket as needed and to mosteffectively allocate resources.
The contemporary model of presidential candidates crisscrossing thecountry on campaign tours, participating in a wide variety of politicalgatherings, is actually a fairly recent innovation in presidential campaignactivity.
Throughout the 19th century, and well into the 20th, campaigns wereconducted largely at grassroots levels by “surrogates”–party leaders andofficeholders who spoke for the national ticket. With a few notableexceptions–in 1896, Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan toured thecountry by rail in his impassioned, yet unsuccessful, campaign, nomineesconducted “front porch campaigns,” staying at home, receiving groups ofsupporters, and issuing occasional statements to the press [4;42]
A variation of the front porch campaign survives in contemporarypresidential electoral politics. Sitting Presidents running for reelection,seeking both to maximize the advantages of incumbency and to project a“presidential” image, are likely to make use of the “Rose Garden” campaignstyle. They maintain a limited campaign schedule, while carrying out theirduties as President. The incumbent makes well publicized use of the perquisitesof the Presidency, including the use of the President’s airplane—Air Force One,scheduling frequent announcements and activities at the White House, anddelivering grants and other federal benefits in states and localities which, itis hoped, contribute to the reelection effort’s success.
Active campaigning by presidential candidates became more common in the20th century. In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt conducted the firstmodern “whistle stop” campaign, traveling 13,000 miles by train and visiting 36 states. In succeeding elections, the “whistle stop” campaign,in which candidates toured the country by train, delivering speeches from therear platforms, became a regular fixture of presidential politics. PresidentHarry Truman apparently holds the record, covering 32,000 miles and averaging 10 speeches a day in his successful 1948 election bid [1;1110].
During the same period, candidates made increasing use of air travel,another area in which Roosevelt pioneered. In 1932, he flew from New York toChicago to accept the Democratic nomination, the first candidate to do so inperson. Modern presidential campaigns are almost exclusively conducted by air,with the candidates able to cover both coasts in a single day. Air travelenables candidates to touch base in media markets in different parts of thecountry on the same day, maximizing their television exposure to voters.Sometimes, the candidates’ appearances are confined to airport rallies, afterwhich the campaign plane flies to another metropolitan area.
Modern presidential campaigns are media driven, as candidates spendmillions of dollars on television advertising and on staged public events(photo ops) designed to generate favorable media coverage. The most widelyviewed campaign spectacles are the debates between the Democratic andRepublican presidential and vice presidential candidates (minor parties areoften excluded from such debates, a fact cited by critics who contend that thecurrent electoral process is undemocratic and inimical to viewpoints other thanthose of the two major parties). First televised in 1960, such debates havebeen a staple of the presidential campaign since 1976. They are closelyanalyzed in the media and sometimes result in a shift of public opinion infavor of the candidate who is perceived to be the winner or who is seen as moreattractive or personable by most viewers. (Some analysts have argued, forexample, that John F. Kennedy's relaxed and self-confident manner, as well ashis good looks, aided him in his debate with Richard Nixon and contributed tohis narrow victory in the presidential election of 1960.) Because of thepotential impact and the enormous audience of the debates—some 80 millionpeople watched the single debate between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in1980—the campaigns usually undertake intensive negotiations over the number ofdebates as well as their rules and format [1;1275].
The presidential election is held on the Tuesday following the firstMonday in November. Voters do not actually vote for presidential and vicepresidential candidates but rather vote for electors pledged to a particularcandidate. The electors gather in their respective state capitals to cast theirvotes on the Monday following the second Wednesday in December, and the resultsare formally ratified by Congress in early January.
Chapter V. The Electoral College
The question of the manner in which the President was to be elected wasdebated at great length at the Constitutional Convention of 1787.At onepoint, the delegates voted for selection by Congress; other proposalsconsidered were for election by: thepeople at large; governors of theseveral states; electors chosen by state legislatures,and a specialgroup of Members of Congress chosen by lot. Eventually, the matterwasreferred to a “committee on postponed matters,” which arrived at a compromise:the Electoral College system. The United States Electoral College is the official name ofthe group of Presidential Electors who are chosen every four years to cast theelectoral vote and thereby elect the President and Vice President of the UnitedStates.
Article II, section 1 of the Constitution provides that, “Each Stateshall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Numberof Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to whichthe State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, orPerson holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States shall beappointed an Elector.” Aside from this disqualification, any person isqualified to be an elector for President and Vice President.
Under the 23rd Amendment, the District of Columbia is allocated as manyelectors as it would have if it were a state, except that it cannot have moreElectors than the least populous state. The least populous state (Wyoming) has3 Electors, so the District cannot have more than 3 Electors. There arecurrently 100 Senators and 435 Members of the House of Representatives, so thetotal membership of both houses of Congress is 535. So the total number ofElectors is 538. Therefore, in order to win the Presidency, it is necessary forthe successful candidate to gain 270 electoral votes (a majority of 538).
Legislation is currently before Congress which would add a congressionalseat to Utah, give Washington DC a voting seat, and would therefore give Utah 1additional Electoral College vote. The total number of Electoral College voteswould then be 539, and a majority would still be 270. The additionalcongressional seat would be permanent, and reapportioned normally after the2010 census.
The Constitution does not specify procedures for the nomination ofcandidates for the office of presidential elector. Presidential Electors arenominated by their state political parties in the summer before the PopularVote on Election Day. The states have adopted various methods of nomination forelector candidates. In some states, such as Oklahoma, the Electors arenominated in primaries. Other states, such as Virginia and North Carolina,nominate Electors in party conventions. In Pennsylvania, the campaigncommittees of the candidates name their candidates for Presidential Elector.All states require the names of all Electors to be filed with the Secretary ofState at least a month prior to Election Day.
The methods of selecting Electors are various. The current system ofchoosing Presidential Electors is called the «short ballot.» In allstates, voters choose among slates of candidates for Elector; only a few stateslist the names of the Presidential Electors on the ballot. (In some states, ifa voter wishes to write in a candidate for president, the voter also is requiredto write in the names of candidates for Elector.)
Before the advent of the «short ballot» in the early twentiethcentury, the most common means of electing the Presidential Electors wasthrough the «General Ticket.» Voters cast ballots for individualsrunning for Presidential Elector (in the short ballot voters cast ballots foran entire slate of Electors). In the General Ticket, the state canvass wouldreport the number of votes cast for each candidate for Elector, a complicatedprocess in states like New York with multiple positions to fill. Both theGeneral Ticket and the short ballot are often considered At Large orwinner-takes-all voting. The short ballot was adopted by the various states atdifferent times.
By far the most popular method of choosing electors afterwinner-takes-all is selection by the state legislature.The Constitutiongives the power to the state legislatures to decide how electors are chosen,and it is easier (and cheaper) for a state legislature to simply appoint aslate of electors than to create a legislative framework for holding electionsto determine the electors. However, appointment by state legislature has aserious flaw, aside from its democratic deficit: legislatures can deadlock moreeasily than the electorate.
Another method for choosing electors is to divide the state up intoelectoral districts, and the voters of each district get to choose a singleelector, much as states are presently divided into congressional districts forchoosing representatives. Obviously, this method is prone to gerrymandering.
The «Maine Method» is a mixture of the district and statewide /short ballot modes of selection. It has this name because it was adopted byMaine for the 1972 presidential election and remains in place. Nebraska has usedthe Maine Method for presidential elections beginning in 1996 [8].In the Maine Method the votes forpresident are summed for each congressional district. The party winning eachdistrict elects one Presidential Elector. Then the vote is summed for the entirestate. The party winning the statewide vote elects two Presidential Electors.The Maine Method is actually very old.
Once the voters have chosen the members of the Electoral College, theelectors meet to ratify the popularchoices for President and Vice President. The Constitution provides (in the 12th Amendment) thatthey assemble in their respective states. Congress has established the firstMonday after the second Wednesday in December following their election as the date for castingelectoral votes, at such place ineach state as the legislature directs.
In practice, the electors almost always meet in the state capital,usually at theState Houseor Capitol Building, often in one of the legislative chambers. The votes are counted and recorded; the resultsare certified by the Governor and forwarded to the President of the U.S. Senate (theVice President).
The electoral vote certificates are opened and counted at a joint sessionof the Congress, held, as mandated, on January 6 following the electors’meeting (or, by custom, on the next day, if it falls on a Sunday); the VicePresident presides. Electoral votes are counted by the newly elected Congress,which convenes on January 3. The winning candidates are then declared to havebeen elected.
There are a lot of problems with respect to the Electoral College. One ofthe most urgent is the phenomenon of the faithless elector. This is one whocasts an electoral vote for someone other than whom they have pledged to elect.On 158 occasions, electors have cast their votes for president or vicepresident in a different manner than that prescribed by the legislature of thestate they represent.
There are laws to punish faithless electors in 24 states. The SupremeCourt ruled in favor of state laws requiring electors to pledge to vote for thewinning candidate, as well as remove electors who refuse to pledge. As statedin the ruling, electors are acting as a function of the state, not the federalgovernment. Therefore, states have the right to govern electors. Theconstitutionality of state laws punishing electors for actually casting afaithless vote, rather than refusing to pledge, has never been decided by theSupreme Court. In any event, a state may only punish a faithless electorafter-the-fact; it has no power to change their vote.
One more problem is the existence of unrepresentedterritories. If an American national is a resident of one of theunincorporated territories of the United States (i.e., American Samoa, Guam,the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands),he or she cannot vote for electors for President.
Another charge against the Electoral College points out that it ispossible for a presidential candidate to win a plurality of the popular votebut to lose in the Electoral College. This possibility results from twofeatures of the system. First, each state, no matter how small, is guaranteedthree electors. Second, the at-large, winner-take-all system means that avictorious candidate, no matter how narrow his margin of victory, is awardedall of a state’s electoral votes.
These problems and many others show that the system of the ElectoralCollege is not perfect, and the question how to channel and organize thepopular will remains open.
Chapter VI.Inauguration
The formalswearing-in ceremony and inauguration of the new president occurs on January 20 in Washington, D.C. The chief justice of the United States administers the formal oath of officeto the president-elect: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfullyexecute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best ofmy ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the UnitedStates.” [10] The new president's first speech, called the Inaugural Address,is then delivered to the nation.
In a traditiondating to the 19th century, Presidents are not publicly inauguratedonSundays. When January 20 falls on that day, a brief private inauguration isheld,usually in the East Room of the White House, with a publicceremony the next day.This occurred most recently in 1985, whenPresident Ronald Reagan was privatelyinstalled for his second term onSunday, January 20, and publicly inaugurated onMonday, January 21.Inauguration Day next falls on a Sunday in the year 2013 [8].
In a tradition dating to Andrew Jackson’s first inaugural in 1829,Presidentswere previously installed at outdoor ceremonies at the EastFront of the U.S. Capitol(facing the Supreme Court). Vice Presidentswere customarily sworn in the SenateChamber until 1933, when the twoceremonies were held jointly for the first time, apractice whichcontinues.
On seven occasions since 1837, the presidential inaugural has been heldelsewhere than the East Front. In 1909, due to inclement weather, WilliamHowardTaft was installed in the Senate Chamber; in 1945, in consideration of the President’shealth and wartime security demands, Franklin D.Roosevelt was sworn in for hisfourth term on the South Portico of theWhite House; in 1981, 1989, 1993, and 1997,Ronald Reagan, George Bush,and Bill Clinton were inaugurated at the West Frontof the Capitol(facing the Mall); and in January 1985, due to inclement weather,PresidentReagan was publicly installed for his second term in the Capitol Rotunda.TheWest Front venue appears to have gained wide acceptance since 1981, and maybeexpected to continue to be the site of future inaugurals, barring unforeseencircumstances [8].
Conclusion
Having investigated and traced the history and evolution of the processof presidential elections in the United States of America we have come to theconclusion that it is rather complicated, extensive, well-organized but, ofcourse, not perfect.
The system that governs the election of the President in the USA combinesconstitutional and statutory requirements, rules of the national and statepolitical parties, political traditions, and contemporary developments andpractices.
As initially prescribed by the Constitution, the election of thePresident was left to electors chosen by the states. Final authority forselecting the President still rests with the Electoral College, which compriseselectors from each state equal in number to the state’s total representation inthe House and Senate. All but two states award electoral votes on awinner-take-all basis to the candidate with a plurality of the state’s popularvote.
As we can infer from our research the process of electing the Presidentis essentially divided into four stages: (1) the pre-nomination phase, in whichcandidates compete in state primary elections and caucuses for delegates to thenational party conventions; (2) the national conventions — held in the summerof the election year — in which the two major parties nominate candidates forPresident and Vice President and ratify a platform of the parties’ policypositions and goals; (3) the general election campaign, in which the majorparty nominees, as well as any minor party or independent contenders, competefor votes from the entire electorate, culminating in the popular vote onelection day in November; and (4) the Electoral College phase, in which thePresident and Vice President are officially elected.
Our investigation proved that the contemporary Electoral College is acurious political institution. Obscure and even unknown to the average citizen,it serves as a crucial mechanism for transforming popular votes cast forPresident into electoral votes which actually elect the President. However,there are a lotof problems with respect to the Electoral College: for example, the phenomenonof the faithless elector, the existence of unrepresentedterritories. One more charge against the Electoral College points out that it ispossible for a presidential candidate to win a plurality of the popular votebut to lose in the Electoral College. These problems and many others show thatthe system of the Electoral College is not perfect, and the question how tochannel and organize the popular will remains open. Yet, it continues to existas a central part of American Presidential electoral machinery.
From the information given above and our whole research we can make theconclusion that presidential elections in recent years differ in severalimportant respects from those held earlier in American history. The first isthe far wider participation of voters today in determining who the partynominees will be; the political parties have in recent years given a muchgreater role to party voters in the states in determining the nominees. Thesecond difference involves the role of the electronic media and, most recently,the Internet, both in conveying information to the voters, and shaping thecourse of the campaign. Third, the financing of presidential campaigns issubstantially governed by a system of public funding in the pre-nomination,convention, and general election phases. Thus, contemporary presidentialelections in the USA blend both traditional aspects of law and practice andcontemporary aspects of a larger, more complex, and more technologicallyadvanced society.
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