HOW TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT
If you want to run for President, you have to start early. Mitt Romney has been running for President now since at least 2006. Typically, campaigns begin about 2 years before the election.
Here is how to win the presidency in several easy-to-follow steps.
1. Form an Exploratory Committee--This committee gathers money for you early, as well as finds out who would support you and what steps need to be taken to get on the ballot in every state.
2. Announce your Candidacy--you want to do this early, but not too early. It makes it easier to get money, but it is all about timing. Announce too early and people will lose interest in you when others start announcing their presidency. Start too late, and you will be too far behind in gathering money to catch up.
Also, it is a good idea to announce your candidacy somewhere that will define
your campaign. Obama announced his candidacy in Springfield, Illinois because it was the home of Abraham Lincoln. John Kerry announced his candidacy on an aircraft carrier to remind people of his military experience.
3. The Primary:
Before you can become one of the two major candidates for President, you must first win the nomination of your political party. This is done through a primary or caucus system in every state. All the Republicans, for example, vote between January and May for which Republican they would like to see as President. Since Barack Obama ran unopposed, he did not have to campaign for the primary.
The states that vote first are the most important since they make it seem like a candidate is winning the primary. Iowa and New Hampshire typically vote in early January, followed by South Carolina, Florida, Nevada, and Colorado.
In order to win the Primary, you will need to:
a. Gather endorsements in the early primary states from powerful people in those states.
b. Spend a lot of time in those states: you’ll be flipping a lot of pancakes and serving a lot of chili. You should also kiss babies and shake hands with everyone.
c. DEBATE: You have to debate the other candidates from your party. You will only need to win over the voters from your party, so focus on issues they care about. They want to know that you are on THEIR side.
d. If you are in first place, act like the other candidate from your party do not exist. If you are in second or third place, attack the front-runner.
5. Win your Primary!: Usually, primaries are over very fast, but the last two election cycles have seen the primaries drag out over months. This is exciting, but can hurt a party because the candidates are attacking each other for months and voters are left with a negative impression. Eventually, though, you will have to win a majority of your party’s delegates to be the party’s nominee. Each party and state have different rules for how to award these delegates. It should be noted that nowhere in the US Constitution does it mention a primary—these are political party policies, and the parties can do whatever they want.
6. Start picking a vice president--you will want someone who has all the things you do n
ot. If you have no foreign policy experience, pick a former general or Secretary of Defense (Ex. Dick Cheney or Joe Biden). If you are old and aloof, make sure you get someone young and vibrant (Ex. Sarah Palin). Also, pick someone from another part of the country. OR you could pick someone exactly like you to reinforce your message (Ex. Al Gore.)
7. Try to keep up momentum through the boring summer when voters are not really paying attention and RAISE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS--In this long period before your convention, you will need to raise millions upon millions of dollars, as well as keep people interested over the summer when they are on vacation. Make as
many public appearances as possible.
ALSO, you will need to organize volunteers. These people will help you raise money, will go door-to-door on your behalf and speak to voters, and will help potential supporters register to vote.
8. Plan your convention--Line up everyone who will make you look good, from your wife to your daughters to popular former presidents. Have them first talk about how the other candidate is bad, then have them focus on how great you are. A few days before your convention, announce your running mate.
Your convention is like a big televised party where you can define yourself and your values to the American people.
9. Make commercials-- A lot of the money you raised will go to running commercials in swing states. You will need to create roughly 30 different commercials, maybe more, and run them in the states you think you can win to the point of nausea. Commercials are used to define both yourself and your opponent.
10. Travel--Go to every swing state you can as many times as you can. Go to several states a day. The more times you visit a place, the better. You will need to go to local businesses, make speeches at schools, and also make speeches at important think tanks.
11. DEBATE AGAIN: Before, you debated members of your own party. Now, you must
debate the other party’s candidate. Last time you were only trying to win over members of your own party, and now you are trying to win over ALL Americans. You will have to speak to different issues and use a different tone to appeal to non-partisan voters. Voters want you to appear Presidential.
11. ELECTION NIGHT...the people vote. But they do not vote for you. They vote for electors that have been chosen by the political party and state legislators. Every states electors equal the number of representatives plus the number of senators. The least is 3, and the most is California with 55. You must win 270 electors to become President.
12. If you lose, call the candidate and congratulate him. If you win, make an acceptance speech. If you first lose and then you think you win, but you already called, call again and take it back. (This happened in 2000.)
13. You aren't president yet--The electoral college then votes for you on the third Wednesday after the second Tuesday in December. The electors are under NO obligation to vote for you, but they usually do anyway. They could vote for themselves if they wanted to. After this, you are president elect for a month, until you are inaugurated in January. Also, wear a coat during the inauguration. The last guy who didn’t died from pneumonia.
CAMPAIGN COMIC STRIP
ASSIGNMENT: Make a comic strip with at least 8 panels that describes the process of running a political campaign for President.
Include the following ideas, 1 per cartoon panel:
· Announce your candidacy
· Primary campaign
· Fundraisers
· Political Television Advertisements
· Pick your Vice-President
· National Party Convention
· Debate
· Election Night
You may include other ideas as well, but those listed above are the minimum.
QUALITY:
While I understand that not everyone is an artist, I do insist that everyone do their best work. In order for me to assess your understanding, I need to be able to understand what you are actually drawing. A quick pencil sketch will receive a low score.
RUBRIC:
4 pts 8 pts 10 pts
ARTISTIC QUALITY / Quick sketch. Pictures drawn do not show understanding of a political campaign. / Pictures appear rushed or confusing.Some details demonstrate understanding while others are inaccurate. / Work is detailed and careful. Demonstrates an understanding of concepts by accurately representing them.
DIRECTIONS / Does not include or demonstrate an understanding of 2 or more concepts. / At least 4 concepts demonstrate an understanding. / All required concepts included.
Writing demonstrates an understanding of each concept.
TOTAL: