Primaries

The presidential primaries are a phenomenon of the American presidential election system. Every 4 years, in a series of 35–40 primary elections in the states, the presidential nominees are selected. In these primaries, the voters are choosing delegates who are committed to the candidates and who will vote in the national party conventions during the summer. As one of the party's candidates moves into the lead and gains more and more delegates, the other candidates typically are “winnowed” from the race, withdrawing because of lack of support. In 2004, for example, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts had won enough of the primaries by early March to have enough delegates to secure the Democratic nomination. He was officially chosen as the party's nominee at the Democratic convention in July 2004.

While some states select their delegates by a caucus process instead of by primaries, the primary process is the main route to presidential nomination. (Caucuses, such as the famous Iowa precinct caucuses, are held in several stages, and require that voters attend meetings at night to discuss the candidates. The time-consuming and public nature of the caucuses has the effect of keeping voter participation much lower than in the primaries.)

Presidential primaries were part of the reforms advocated by the Progressive Movement in America in the early 20th century. Reformers such as Senator Robert M. LaFollette of Wisconsin and former President Theodore Roosevelt urged the states to change the old system, whereby a small group of party leaders at the national convention selected the nominees. Instead, urged the Progressives, the party members at the grassroots level should have a direct voice in choosing the presidential nominees through primary elections. Many states adopted this reform, and by 1912, there were at least 12 primaries, and newspapers mentioned others, with widely different rules and structures. So embedded was the party convention system, however, that the party leaders in 1912 replaced the delegates at will during the convention. The reform effort underwent a long hiatus. Although 12–16 states routinely had presidential primaries, and the early primaries (particularly the first primary, New Hampshire) occasionally had an agenda-setting effect on the campaign, the majority of states did not use this method of selecting candidates.

The McGovern-Fraser Commission of the Democratic Party, working during the 1968–1972 period, revived the idea that party members at the grassroots level should have a direct hand in selecting the party nominee. The commission mandated new rules for wider participation (adopted by the Democratic Party), which led to sweeping changes in the nomination process and the adoption of primaries and caucuses by the states. Starting with the presidential election of 1972, one candidate (Senator George McGovern of South Dakota) had won enough delegates in the primaries that as the party convention approached, it was [Page 652]evident that he was the party's nominee before the convention. Presidential primaries are now the main way candidates become the party nominees, in both parties.

The presidential primaries have six unique situational factors that influence the campaign communication process. First, the primaries are held much earlier in the year than the convention, and with every quadrennial cycle, states have moved their primaries earlier, in a process of “front loading.” The earliest primaries tend to capture the heaviest media attention and to set the news agenda for the presidential campaign. Second, instead of there being a one-time event such as a fall election date, there are multiple primaries, which forces the candidates and media to divide their communication energies and resources among many states. The media focus their attention on the “horse race,” giving the most attention to the candidates who are ahead in the polls. They also give heavy coverage to the “fighter,” the candidate(s) who fight against the odds and do better than expected.

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