Discuss the importance of presidential primaries and caucuses.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers will vary. Most of the states hold presidential primaries, beginning early in the election year. For a candidate, a good showing in the early primaries results in plenty of media attention as television networks and newspaper reporters play up the results. Subsequent primaries tend to eliminate candidates unlikely to be successful.?The presidential primaries do not necessarily follow the same rules the states use for nominating candidates for the U.S. Congress or for state and local offices. Often, the presidential primaries are not held on the same date as the other primaries. States frequently hold the presidential primaries early in hope of exercising greater influence on the outcome.?The caucus system is an alternative to primary elections. Strictly speaking, the caucus system is a convention system. The caucuses are party conventions held at the local level that elect delegates to conventions at the county or congressional district level. These mid-level conventions then choose the delegates to the state convention, which finally elects the delegates to the national party convention.Unlike the caucuses of two centuries ago, modern caucuses are open to all party members. It is not hard to join a party. At the famous Iowa caucuses, one becomes a party member simply by attending a local caucus. While some states, such as Iowa and Minnesota, rely on the caucus/convention system to nominate candidates for state and local positions, the system is more frequently used only to choose delegates to the Democratic and Republican national conventions. Most states with presidential caucuses use primaries to nominate state and local candidates. Thirteen states choose Democratic national convention delegates through caucuses. Republicans use caucuses in fourteen states.