Tuesday, February 2, 2016


Candidate announces plan to run for office.
  • This announcement launches the candidate's official campaign. 
  • Speeches, debates, and baby-kissing begin in full force.


Candidate campaigns to win delegate support.
  • The first stage of a presidential campaign is the nomination campaign. 
  • At this time the candidate is competing with other candidates in the same party, hoping to get the party's nomination. 
  • The candidate works to win delegates—( who are delegates ?-- they are representatives who pledge to support the candidate's nomination at the national party convention—and to persuade potential voters in general.

Caucuses and primary elections take place in the states.
Caucuses and primaries are ways for the general public to take part in nominating presidential candidates. Before the 20th century , only the party leaders in each state could nominate presidential candidates.


Political Parties of US


What is a caucus? 
  • The caucuses are part of a four-stage election of state delegates to send to the national convention of each party. 
  • These delegates then officially nominate their national candidate. 
  • The caucuses are held in 10 US states (out of 50) — Iowa, Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, North Dakota and Wyoming. 
  • In the remaining 40 states, primaries, a statewide process in which voters cast secret ballots, are used.
ok but then what's the difference between a primaries and a caucus?
Caucuses were once the main way in which nominees were picked, but they came to be replaced by primaries over the course of the 20th century, and surged in the wake of the reappraisal following the 1968 convention. Now a vast majority of nomination contests in the United States are primaries.
But what's the difference?
First, the Caucus
  • Voting at a caucus is more than just voting — it's participating in a local party meeting. 
  • These contests are run and funded by the party, not by the state. 
  • People registered with a party cast their votes for their preferred presidential candidate, but they also vouch for their preferred candidates, talk about the party platform and elect local party leaders. 
  • The meeting can take hours, and while they can be open or closed like primaries, they tend to be smaller and attract people who are deeply committed to a party and less ideologically moderate than the general electorate. 
  • Because of their relative complexity, caucuses are considered a test of a campaign's organizing strength.
what abt the Primaries ??
  • Voting at a primary is much like voting in the general election. 
  • Citizens go to a state-run polling station and cast a secret ballot for their preferred candidate for a party. 
  • Some of these contests are "open primaries," meaning voters can participate in a party's election regardless of their own party affiliation. 
  • Others are "closed," meaning that a voter can only vote for a candidate in the party they're registered with — only registered Democrats can vote in a Democratic primary, only registered Republicans in a Republican race. 
  • There are also semi-closed primaries — unaffiliated voters can vote for whichever party they wish to, but voters registered with a party can only vote for candidates within their party.
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iNshoRT…bole toh  
At a caucus, local party members gather to nominate a candidate. A caucus is a lively event at which party leaders and activists debate issues, consider candidates, choose delegates, and discuss the party platform, or statement of principles. The rules governing caucus procedures vary by party and b y state.
A primary is more like a general election. Voters go to the polls to cast their votes for a presidential candidate (or delegates who will represent that candidate at the party convention). Primary elections are the main way for voters to choose a nominee.
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IOWA CAUCUS jo ki 1st FEB ko honga/huwa  ko itna mahatva kyun hai ?
  • The Iowa caucus marks the start of the US presidential race. 
  • It’s the first time that voters get to have a say in the electioneering process of their parties. 
  • Registered voters will physically assemble in 1,681 precincts, including churches, libraries and other smaller venues, across the state Monday to vote for their candidate. 
  • Though plenty of opinion polls have been conducted so far, the caucuses where actual party members vote are an early indication of a candidate’s viability.
BUT. does IOWA CAUCUS really matters ?
  • Iowa is a small state with mostly rural, white and conservative population. The turnout at the Iowa caucus is also low. 
  • Despite that, caucuses in the state remain one of the key stages in the US presidential nominations process. 
  • Critics say that the only reason Iowa matters is the media attention it garners. This also means that the winners get big media coverage, hoisting them ahead of others in the competition.
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phir uske baad ?.... Nominee for president is announced at national party conventions.
  • The main goal of a national party convention is to unify party members behind the party's platform and nominees. 
  • Thousands of delegates gather to rally support for the platform and to nominate candidates for president and vice-president.
From the 1820s until the 1930s, party conventions were boisterous events in which determining a nominee could spark hot debate. By the mid-20th century, however, primary elections had become the main way of selecting a nominee.
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phir uske baad ?.....ELECTION CAMPAIGN
After the convention, the second stage of the presidential campaign begins: the election campaign. In this stage, presidential candidates from different parties compete against each other.
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phir uske baad ?........Citizens cast their votes.
Presidential elections are held every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November. This was decided long ago, when many voters had to make a long, slow journey to the polling place. By early November crops were in but the weather was usually not too cold for travel. And because Sunday was a day of rest, voters would begin the trip on Monday.
Many Americans think that when they cast their ballot, they are voting for their chosen candidate. In actuality they are selecting groups of electors in the electoral college.
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phir uske baad ?.....The electoral college casts its votes.


first tell me ....why ELECTORAL COLLEGE ?
Some of the founding fathers wanted Congress to elect the president. Others wanted the president to be elected by popular vote. The electoral college represents a compromise between these ideas.

but what is this ELECTORAL COLLEGE ?
  • The Electoral College is a group of people selected by each state who vote for the president. 
  • For a candidate to become president they need to win the Electoral College vote.
  • toh yeah log jo vote karenge isko ELECTORAL VOTE kehte hai !!

toh POPULAR vote kya hai ?


  • the vote for a U.S. presidential candidate made by the qualified voters, as opposed to that made by the electoral college.
  • actually that voting is for electing people to Electoral College ..but it is like u vote for such a person to the Electoral college who favors or is affiliated to the presidential candidate party (i.e. Republicans or Democrats ! )

lekin kis STATE ko kitne electors honge ,,,yeh kaise determine hota hai ?
  • The number of electors for a state is based upon the voting membership of that state in Congress i.e. the number of representatives in the House plus the number of senators. 
  • There are a total of 435 Representatives and 100 Senators in Congress; so along with 3 electors from the District of Columbia that brings the total number of electors to 538. 
  • A presidential candidate needs 270 (just over 50%) electoral votes to win.

phir ELECTORAL voting kaise hoti hai ?
  • All the electoral votes from a particular state go to the candidate who leads the popular vote in that state. 
  • A candidate can therefore win millions of popular votes but no electoral votes. 
  • This “winner takes all” system can produce seemingly uneven results; in the elections of 1876, 1888, and 2000, for instance, the candidate who had the greatest popular vote did not win the greatest electoral college vote, and so lost the presidency.

kab hoti hai yeh ELECTORAL voting for US President?
  • On the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, the electors cast their ballots. 
  • Nothing in the Constitution or federal law requires that the electors vote along with their state's popular vote, though an elector who did not would likely not be reelected. 
  • At least 270 electoral votes are required to elect a president. 
  • If this majority is not reached, the House of Representatives will elect the president.

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uske baad ...uske baad…. MAUJA hi MAUJA !!

The president is inaugurated.
  • On January 20, the president enters office in a formal ceremony know as the inauguration. 
  • He takes the presidential oath: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

In accordance with the Constitution, the inauguration used to take place on March 4, because transportation and communication were so slow that it took time to collect election results and allow winning candidates to travel to Washington, D.C. With the 20th Amendment in 1933, however, the inauguration date was changed to January 20.


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