Nomination for State and Congress Offices - Essay Example

Nomination for and Congress offices Nomination for and congress offices takes place differently within the different political parties. Nominations at the preprimary level are intra-party nominations. The party members in a particular state meet to endorse a member who can represent their party for a particular State or Congress office position. Members can endorse different candidates for a particular position. Therefore, to ensure the nominees are satisfied with the result, you consider the voters representation in the nomination process. The results of the preprimary nomination determine whether they will further have to narrow down the number of candidates to the expected number or they can keep the selected members till the period close to the time of the primaries. The members select these nominees in relation to popularity among state’s members. Direct Primary Nomination for State and Congress offices takes place before the general election. One nominee is selected from among the selected nominees during the preprimary nominations. The selected nominee becomes the candidate to go for the States or Congress office. In the general elections, these elected congress and state officers, Electoral College, elect the President. The political party with the most seats in States and Congressional offices is able to pass their presidential candidate during the general elections although today it might not be always the case. The Presidential Nomination Politics Delegates are divided among the states by the national parties by apportioning them in relation to the number of voters in each state. The higher the number of votes a state has, the more the number of delegates they select from that state. The most populated cities such as New York is apportioned more delegates than other smaller cities. In my opinion, this is the case because there are more people being represented in one city than the other. Therefore to ensure even representation, the delegates are selected in relation to percentage other than state. The Democratic Party and the Republican Party in the U.S. select their presidential candidates by the process of primary elections. Nomination process starts when voters choose delegates from their states to attend a national party convention to elect their party’s presidential candidate. This is followed by the selected delegates, attending a party’s national convention whereby they select their preferred presidential candidate. The delegates select for a presidential candidate as per the preference or their states. Therefore, the more popular, aspiring presidential nominee is the more likely it will be to be nominated by the delegates. The presidential nominees mostly are senators in their respective states. They publicize their intentions by showing interest to run for a presidential position in the coming elections through the media or if the term of the current leader is coming to its end, the president can endorse his successor. If the president endorses a candidate, he does so with the consent of his party members after they have seen that a candidate is the best among the other nominees by considering their public image as well as reputation. A candidate should be free from any legal wrongs and should have an unquestionable reputation because this can cause him to lose the elections. Media plays a big role in presidential nominations by extending coverage beyond any one state to present a wider selection to voters’ reactions and candidates’ performance. It as well presents presidential aspirants with an opportunity to answer to questions raised by the citizens through the journalists of different media houses. Media may either boost or destroy the reputation of a candidate, this is because journalists can look into a candidate’s history and judge from the findings or observe from the campaigns held by a particular candidate. The more a candidate is preferred by the public, the more likely a nominee is likely to be selected to run for presidency by the delegates. The Political Parties and the Voters The two major political parties in the United States have their own leadership and supporters. The party’s policies contribute highly to the support from voters to the political party. Voters determine whether a political party’s candidate is elected to office or not by reading the policies by each party. Like in the just concluded general elections, the percentage of the black race people preferred to vote president Obama as compared to the percentage of the blacks that voted for President Bush during the general elections when he was elected president. In my opinion, more blacks vote for Obama because he as well is of the Blacks race. Even in this day and time, racism controls how some voters in America vote for their preferred candidate. Different factors affect how candidates and voters identify the political parties they prefer to elect to represent them in the House. The citizens may prefer a certain party because it addresses issues they would want addressed. Most citizens who prefer social welfare issues to be addressed and who are mostly low-income earning citizens prefer the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party has a good reputation in addressing social welfare issues such as health care, social security and education. The lower income people vote in favor of the Democratic Party because when it assumes leadership they will reduce their social welfare annual spending. On the other hand, the Republican Party is preferred by the citizens with higher incomes and ones who prefer issues such as, reputation on foreign policy, taxes and crime to be addressed. They prefer these issues to be addressed because they are the ones that mostly affect them. They include the highly paid individuals, business people and investors who prefer foreign policies, taxes and crime to be addressed for the smooth running of their business activities. In 2002, 65% of the people who voted for President Bush were higher income earners at the same time, 65% of those that voted for Kelly were lower income individuals who earn less than 15000 dollars per year. Therefore, it brings me to a conclusion that, most of the American voting population are employed low income earners and prefer welfare issues addressed. Partisan conflicts cut across social and economic cleavages in the society, hence parties are made broad coalitions that embrace a wide variety of interests with a big percentage of voters preferring one political party over another due to factors such as; race, religion, gender among other minor factors. In the past, women were not allowed to vote, only the men participated in politics and voting. After the women were allowed to vote, a big percentage preferred to vote in favor of the opposition party because it fought for their voting right. This view has changed with time. Their social and economic positions have change. Before, the place of a woman was in the kitchen and at home taking care of the children, but today things have changed with women cutting across the before male-dominated sectors. Many people who supported a certain party in the twentieth century have moved from supporting their party to supporting the other party due to changes in the class of issues they would want addressed. This can be reflected by the percentage change in the population of a certain group of people supporting a party as compared to the previous century. The growth in the economy has changed the living standards of various people in different ways, with some declining and others improving. Due to this fact, some are becoming Democrats from Republicans while others are shifting to Republican from Democrats. In 2002 more blacks voted against President Bush compared to today when they ceremoniously vote in support of President Obama. The general election To raise campaign finance, political parties do so through fundraisings during and before campaigns. The party leaders of the political parties carry the duty of raising funds to meet the party’s campaigns. The president raises campaign finance for his party as the party leader. He does this in his term as president. The campaign finance for just concluded American general elections for the Democratic Party, President Obama’s party, started raising the campaign finance for the party since his election in 2008. Campaign strategy is designed with aims of achieving solid objectives within a specific period of time. It aims at winning the favor of the majority of voters in States all around the U.S. as well as wins the favor of potential funders who can contribute towards funding a candidate’s campaign. The candidates must ensure that the strategy wins favor of majority voters. These funds come from public financing through fundraising, private finance and donations from supporters who are citizens or U.S. Green Card holders. The Electoral College process selects the American President and the Vice President and also participates in the counting of electoral votes. They vote for the president and his running mate. In the just concluded general elections, President Barack Obama won with 303 Electoral College votes against Mitt Romney’s 206. It does not necessarily reflect the percentage popularity vote but the preference by the Electoral College. Voters cast their votes in favor of their preferred party presidential candidate. The majority of American population preferred President Obama over his opponent Mitt Romney from the percentage of votes he got in the just concluded 2012 general elections. The winner in these elections should give a victory speech thanking all the supporters and the campaign team. The loser also should give a speech to concede defeat once the results are officially announced. He does this to demonstrate accepting losing fairly to the opponent. If a candidate feels that the results are not correct he can appeal and request for a recount. This is not the case mostly because the popularity vote and Electoral College vote outcome are considered. Parties in the Government There are two major parties in the government of America, The Democratic Party which is now the ruling party and The Republican Party which is currently the opposition political party. These two parties are trusted by the public to handle different issues with each attracting its own group of supporters. Since 2008 to date, Republican Party controls over Senate seats while Democratic Party has been in control of the House of Representatives seats. Lower income earners prefer the Democratic Party because it addresses issues that affect them. The president serves as the actual head of a political party alongside the governmental functions he or she performs. He president must support the party’s businesses which include campaigning for the candidates of the party, party’s policies as well as raise funds for the party. The president depends highly on support from party members in Congress on key votes. He might experience conflicts between presidential and party leader duties while trying to build harmony on nonpartisan issues. Therefore, to differentiate these duties without conflicts, he should carry out all his duties independent of each other. The President also is the head of the executive branch. He is expected to make laws official, approve and carry out laws passed by the legislative branch. On the other hand, the president nominates the judges of the Supreme Court which is the head of the Judiciary. He should carry out all these duties without bias to ensure that it does not cause conflicts among his duties. He should make sure he performs these duties in an unquestionable manner. Political Parties Political parties play vital roles in government because they bring citizens together to achieve control of the government, develop favorable policies and organize as well as persuade voters to elect their candidate to office. They are important because they encourage citizens to participate in the election process by informing and mobilizing them during their process of campaigning. Resurging political parties are very important in campaigns because, they bring about the aspect of competition and they also act like the representatives in the House of Representatives in the government. This ensures that the government is on track all the time. If there is no opposition, the government will only act in favor of his political party. Politics without political parties, may lead to participants declining to vote, voters with less education not understanding party labels and therefore they wrongly cast their votes or not casting their votes at all, voters who rely on clues got during campaigns of different parties to make a choice on who to vote for will end up torn on which political party to vote and all these put together may cause voters to vote incorrectly. Therefore, political parties are very important because they campaign on behalf of their candidates, publicize and educate the public about the party’s policies. The political opinions of followers or members may be conflicting with that of other partisans or candidates of the same political party which happens due to the normal differences in thinking and level of education or understanding by a supporter(s) or member(s). It is normal where there are many people to get ambiguous meaning and understanding for any particular issue, therefore to contain this they should simplify the language they use while addressing both members and followers. For instance when dealing with social welfare issues such as health care, they should explain well how it will affect each and every American, rich or poor, without discrimination. Partisan polarization conflicts supporters’ understanding with the massage being passed to them. If the partisans translated the information negatively, they may defect from the party and join another, but if it is translated from a positive perspective, others may defect from their parties to join your party. Therefore, party leaders should work towards relay the correct information to the people. From my point of view, to curb polarization political parties must use simplified terms and ensure that they counter check their policies to balance with all the educational levels of their supporters. Works Cited Aldrich H. J., “Why Parties?” A second Look. 2011. The University of Chicago Press. Chicago London. Beck Allen P. “Party Politics in America.” 8th Ed. 1997. Pearson Longman. Berman Larry, Murphy Allen B. “Approaching Democracy.” 4th Ed. 1995-2010, Pearson Education Inc., Pearson Prentice Hall. Biddy John F., Schaffner Brian F. “Politics, Parties, and Elections in America.” 7th Ed, 1st Review 2011. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Edwards, Wattenberg, Lineberry. “Government in America: People, Politics and Policy.” Brief Study. Election Update. 2004. Longman Publishing Group. Frantzich E.S. “Citizen Democracy: Political Activism in a Cyncial Age: People, Passions, and Power Series.” 3rd Ed. 2008. Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Inc. Green C. J., Coffey J. D. “The State of the Parties: The Changing Role of Contemporary American Parties.” 6th Ed. 2010. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers. Harshey Randon M. “Party Politics in America.” 2007. Pearson Longman. Hetherington J.M., Weiler D. J. “Authotarianism and Polarisation in American Politics.” 2009. Cambridge University Press. Mott Johnathan. Ph.D. “ThisNation.com: American Government and Politics Online.” “Presidential Nominations and the Media: Report of the American Assembly.” May 11-13, 1978. Seven Springs Centre, Mt. Kisco, New York. Wilson Q. J. “American Government: Brief Version.” 9th Ed. 2009, 2008. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Read More