The road to the White House is a long and difficult one which leads to the most powerful and eminent political function in the topical world. The Founding Fathers gave particular attention to the presidential election, prescribing the electoral system, but they did not define any nominating system for the pretenders. Actually, parties as we know them (powerful, inevitable, and strongly structured) did not exist at this time and their development was not anticipated. However, now, the support of a party's structure to run a presidential election is well known and incontestable.
[...] Some authors assert that the campaign begins, in a certain way, immediately after the presidential election, for the next one.[4] In this effort, candidates are generally helped by fund raisers, banks, celebrities, organized events . Their personal networks and contacts must be activated. All supports are potentially welcomed and the heritage of a long political life is generally very valuable. Furthermore, new strategies of communication and public sensitization have appeared over the years. The direct-mail solicitation is one of these tactics to target partisan as well as to widen the circle of contributors but it is too common. [...]
[...] Wildavsky ; Presidential Elections, Strategies and structures of American Politics. 10th Ed. Chatham House Publishers - R.A.Watson/ N.C. Thomas: the politics of the Presidency. John Wiley and sons inc - S.J. Wayne: the road to the white house, the politics of presidential elections. 2nd Ed. St Martin's Press. NY Web site: - http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/politicalsystem/a/delegateprocess.htm (accessed the 02/02/07) A. De Tocqueville. De la Démocratie en Amérique 1833. (General knowledge). N.W. Polsby A. Wildavsky ; Presidential Elections, Strategies and structures of American Politics. 10th Ed. Chatham [...]
[...] Proportional system and winner-take-all system are determinant[6] because they dictate a part of the strategy that must be set up. Iowa and Hampshire require a special attention as first hurdles, first delegates selections. They are actually the elections which orientated not only media but also financial support and, especially voters. As a first hurdles, these primaries distinguish ‘viable' and ‘futile' candidacy[7]. They are not enough to win or to loose the entire process but the fact is that they orientate the rest of the competition so largely that it is better to secure an honorable result by according to them great attention. [...]
[...] Other goals, apart from the personal presidential image, need to be achieved in order to guarantee a strong support among the delegates for the primary elections. These goals deal clearly with money as it has been said previously. Hence, fund raising is a central activity during this nebulous time for a prospective candidate seeking a party's nomination. The candidate's first task is to raise, without any public financing or party's structure, himself', a minimum of $5,000 (by individual contributions of maximum $250 in a minimum of 20 states) in order to set up his eligibility. [...]
[...] hence, candidates for a party's nomination face many hurdles and dilemmas which deal mostly with the combination of time and money that they will spend to convince during the primaries. Then the nomination process in itself occurs. It takes place usually between January and June and the ‘pre-candidacy' campaign continues during this period. First, delegates for the national convention are selected at the state level by primaries or caucus. The choice of delegates is an important stage that the candidates endeavor to influence. [...]
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