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Some Terms to Know. Electorate - the people who vote Constituent – person who is represented by a senator, congressman, state legislator, etc. How do we pick the people who run for office in November?. Primary elections!
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Some Terms to Know • Electorate - the people who vote • Constituent – person who is represented by a senator, congressman, state legislator, etc.
How do we pick the people who run for office in November? • Primary elections! Primary elections are held before November and allow people to decide who’s going to represent each party in a political race
2008 Primaries (Presidential) During every primary season, a whole bunch of people are competing to get their party’s nomination: • Democratic Candidates: Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, John Edwards, Barack Obama, etc. • Republican Candidates: Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Ron Paul, Fred Thompson
Primaries are like playoffs! Think of each party as a conference in a major sport. Each party as a number of candidates (teams) who are looking to compete in the General Election in November (Super Bowl)
How do primaries work? • Each state has either a primary or caucus (which we’ll get to) • Whoever gets the most states per party gets the nomination for November • So Obama and McCain got the most votes in the most states and beat out people like Hillary Clinton and Mike Huckabee, for example
2 types of primaries • Open primaries (or pick-a-party) are those in which voters of any affiliation may vote for the slate of any party. • Closed primaries are those in which only the voters affiliated with a party may vote in its primary.
When are Primaries? • The dates of primaries varies from state to state. • PA’s primary is in May • The first primary is in New Hampshire, which tends to get a lot of attention from the press
Caucuses • Some states use caucuses instead (Iowa, for example) • Caucus – meeting of party officials to conduct important business. • Incaucuses, people meet to decide who will be nominated for a particular party