RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE, PART III: THE NATIONAL CONVENTIONS

Convention Delegates

Proportional Allocation: Candidates receive a percentage of delegates based on the percent of the vote they receive This is how the

Democratic Party awards convention delegates

Convention Delegates

Winner-Take-All Allocation: Candidate who wins the primary wins ALL the delegates The Republican

Party traditionally awards delegates in this manner

Simple Math

Proportional Winner-Take-All

Maryland has 100 delegates at stake. Candidate A wins 55%

of the vote and gets 55 delegates.

Candidate B wins 40% of the vote and wins 40 delegates

This method causes primaries to last longer and allows more people to vote

Maryland has 100 Delegates at stake. Candidate A wins by

one vote Candidate A gets ALL

THE DELEGATES

This method tends to end primaries quicker

Toward the Convention

Once a candidate has a majority of the convention delegates they become the presumptive nominee and starts planning their convention

Choosing a Running Mate

In the spring or summer before the election, the presumptive nominee picks their running mate: their vice-president

Choosing a Running Mate

LOTS of strategy goes into this pick.

A GOOD running mate will:  

BALANCE THE TICKET (OLD AND YOUNG,

GEOGRAPHY, IDEOLOGY)  OR TARGET A SPECIFIC

STATE OR GROUP OF VOTERS

Sometimes it works, and sometimes…

Planning the Convention

The political party that is defending the White House always goes last. This is a huge advantage. The host city is chosen 1-2 years beforehand.

2012: Republican National Convention – Tampa, FL

2012: Democratic National Convention – Charlotte, NC

The host city is picked for the same reasons as a good running mate.

The National Convention

Monday: Introduce You to America Spouse, significant other, best friends will give

speeches introducing you to the United States

Tuesday: Introduce the Party Platform Platform: The set of ideas you believe in

as a candidate Keynote Address: Delivered by a future

star of your party defending the platform

The National Convention

Wednesday: The Nomination Roll Call of States: State delegates

announce their choices of nominee for president and vice-president

Running Mate delivers acceptance speech

Thursday: Accepting the Nomination The nominee delivers their acceptance

speech

Ready for Primetime

The 2 keynote addresses, the vice-presidential nominee’s speech, and the acceptance speech are all delivered on primetime, live television.  This is a great way to introduce yourself to

voters who will now begin paying attention in detail.

Anticipate delivering your speech before a crowd of 40,000 to 50,000 people (Depending on the arena.)

Anticipate a television audience of up to 40 Million people!