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Presidency: Running for Office‘RUNNING’ FOR THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENTAnyone who meets the qualifications for President as described in the Constitution can run for President. In a practical sense, however, very few people have any real chance of being elected. 3 practical requirements for getting elected: 1. A genuine desire to be the President (that means the will/energy/stamina to campaign) 2. Name recognition (people typically only vote for people with whom they are familiar) 3. Money enough to run an enormously expensive campaign (you don’t have to be wealthy personally, but you must be able to raise many millions of dollars)Winning the Party NominationTo become President one must receive the backing and endorsement of a political party. Typically, we only hear about 2 political parties: DEMOCRATS and REPUBLICANS. That is because these are our largest parties. Either a Democrat or a Republican will become the next President of the United States. (There are other, much smaller parties such as the GREEN PARTY, LIBERTARIAN PARTY, and COMMUNIST PARTY who usually nominate candidates for President. These smaller parties are generically referred to as THIRD PARTIES. Third Party candidates have almost no chance of winning a national election. Voters certainly have the right to vote for candidates of small parties, but most support the much more well-known major party candidates.)Usually there are a number of individuals from both parties who want to become President. This year there were more than 20 Democrats who early in the election cycle campaigned to be the Democrat Nominee. Several debates were held featuring the most prominent of these candidates. Many of the candidates ran political ads in the media. Many appeared in news stories and made guest appearances on the networks in an effort to win party support. Donald Trump did not have any serious opposition to be the Republican nominee. Other Republicans were free to run against him, but as the incumbent President, most Republican voters strongly supported Trump as the Republican Nominee. This discouraged other Republicans from trying to ‘unseat’ Trump. So, how did the Democrats actually select Joe Biden to be their nominee?PRIMARY ELECTIONSIn the months leading to the general election, each state held some form of a Presidential Primary election. Primary elections feature candidates from the same party running against each other. The winner of a primary election becomes the candidate for his or her party against the chosen candidate from the opposing party in the GENERAL ELECTION. (Primary elections are an important component of self-government. Primary elections allow citizens to have a voice in who is chosen to be their party’s candidate.)NOMINATING CONVENTIONSShortly after the final primary elections have been held, each party will convene leaders from each state in one location where they will evaluate the results of all of the presidential primary races. With excitement and great fanfare, the conventions then choose their respective nominees based on the primary results. In addition to formally selecting their candidate to run for President, parties will also formulate their PLATFORMS. A Platform is a statement of party goals and policies which they plan to enact if their candidate wins the Presidency. Both parties publicize their platforms, hoping that what they plan for the future is popular enough with voters to carry them to victory in the general election. (This year the Democrat platform, among many other issues, supports the elimination of fossil fuels in favor of the ‘Green New Deal’ along with a promise of higher taxes on the rich. The Republican platform supports the use of fossil fuels and pledges to keep taxes low. Border security, immigration policy, healthcare, and dealing with Covid 19 are also platform issues.) Investigating/studying the platforms of each party is probably the best mechanism for smart citizens to wisely select the candidate and party they think is best for the country. Conventions are usually exciting to watch and are intended to build enthusiasm for their particular candidates. However, due to Covid 19, the political conventions were much smaller and held with much less publicity than in other election years. (If you enjoy politics, just wait for 2024 to experience the unique excitement of political conventions.)THE CAMPAIGNFollowing the conventions, the real campaigning for President takes place in the weeks between the conventions and the general election. Both candidates usually make as many appearances as possible.* They attend rallies all over the country. They publicly debate each other on national TV. They purchase ad time and space in the media. Every action by the candidates is designed to win support of voters. *Joe Biden has opted this year to refrain from personally appearing at large gatherings, his campaign states, because of the threat of Covid 19. Trump, on the other hand, makes multiple appearances daily across the country.GENERAL ELECTION The General Election for President always occurs on the first Tuesday of November every 4 years. In the general election it’s always the Democrat versus the Republican. This is the election that actually determines the next President for our country. ................
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