Too long, too expensive, too dominated by media image whilst failing to select the best candidate for the job.” Critically assess this view of presidential primary elections.”

Too long, too expensive, too dominated by media image whilst failing to select the best candidate for the job.” Critically assess this view of presidential primary elections.”

Too long, too expensive, too dominated by media image whilst failing to select the best candidate for the job.” Critically assess this view of presidential primary elections.”

In the USA, candidates for elected federal office are chosen by voters through a system of primaries and caucuses. An election year and formal primary season is preceded by a period of campaigning and positioning known as the invisible primary. This period has become ever longer for presidential candidates with it now effectively starting at the end of the previous presidential campaign. During this period potential candidates are likely to form an exploratory committee to assess the levels of support that they would be likely to attract. Once they announced their candidature, they will look to secure the endorsement of key party figures and to establish name recognition more broadly through features in newspapers and magazines, as well as television appearances. They will begin to put together their campaign team and visit the early battlegrounds Iowa and New Hampshire. The most important thing for a candidate at this stage would be to start the process of fundraising. They need to amass a war chest to take them into the early primaries. It is estimated that both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the two major candidates for the Democratic nomination in 2008, had each amassed a war chest in excess of $100 million before the primary season got underway. It is widely accepted that the winner of the invisible primary can be regarded as the candidate who has a fundraising advantage and a lead in the opinion polls to give him or her momentum as he or she enters the primary season.

A primary is an election to choose a party’s candidate; a few states hold caucuses instead. A caucus is a meeting for the selection of a candidate instead. States such as Iowa, North Dakota and Nevada hold caucuses; usually states, which are larger geographically but thinly, populated hold caucuses. Turnout is...

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