Kevin J. Coleman
Analyst in Elections
This report provides answers to frequently asked questions about the presidential nominating process, including how the delegates to the national conventions are chosen, the differences between a caucus and a primary, national party rules changes for 2012, and the national conventions themselves. It is not a comprehensive report on all aspects of the presidential nominating process.
The Nominating Process
The presidential nominating process is a subject of enduring congressional and national interest. Presidential elections are the only national elections held in the United States, and the initial phase of primaries and caucuses changes every four years. Congress has a legislative, as well as a practical and political, interest in the presidential nominating process. Presidential nominees lead the party ticket in the fall election; the elected President will set many policy and political goals in the ensuing four years; and many Members of Congress will serve as delegates to the major party conventions. No legislation has been introduced in the 112th Congress to reform the presidential nominating process, although several related bills would eliminate taxpayer financing of the national party conventions, including H.R. 359, H.R. 414, H.R. 3463, and S. 194.
The 2012 Rules
The 2012 presidential primary season featured a protracted contest for Republicans that began in January and continued until the end of May, when the presumptive nominee claimed the nomination. Media coverage of the primary season focused on the Republican contest because the incumbent President faced only token—if any—opposition in Democratic party primaries and caucuses, but also because of two new Republican party rules for 2012 that contributed to the party’s comparatively long primary battle. In an effort to decrease the large cluster of contests at the beginning of the primary and caucus calendar, the phenomenon known as front-loading, the Republican Party adopted these two important changes to national party rules for the 2012 primary process:
- delegate selection events could not be held before the first Tuesday in March, with exceptions for Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, which could hold their events on or after February 1 (regardless, Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina scheduled January events for 2012); and
- a related change required states that held contests before April 1 to allocate delegates on a proportional basis, although it did not impose a specific proportional system. Many state parties used winner-take-all in the past, but the new rule required that delegates be awarded to presidential candidates in proportion to their primary vote totals, in some fashion.
The rules changes reduced front-loading, but they also prolonged the contest in comparison to past primary cycles and led to speculation that the Republican convention might need more than one ballot to choose the nominee, an unprecedented occurrence in recent decades. That possibility seems remote now, although state party rules for binding delegates to vote a certain way at the national convention vary. According to state party rules, in 42 states and territories, the entire delegation is bound for one or more ballots at the national convention; in 13 states and territories, the delegates are not bound; and in Louisiana, approximately half the delegates are bound and half are not. By comparison, Democratic delegates are only bound by conscience to reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.
The National Conventions
The national party conventions have evolved over the past half century and now serve as the forum for officially ratifying the results of the primary season, rather than the place where the nominee is actually chosen. The last time more than one ballot was required to nominate a presidential candidate—a so-called “brokered” convention—occurred in 1952. Even so, the conventions remain important as media events that launch each major party’s general election campaign. In 2012, the major parties’ nominations will be officially conferred when Republicans meet in Tampa, Florida, from August 27-30 and Democrats meet in Charlotte, North Carolina from September 3-6.
Date of Report: June 12, 2012
Number of Pages: 26
Order Number: R42533
Price: $29.95
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