Electing the President 101
Tracy Grant
Washington Post
Apr 2, 2007
I n fewer than 600 days, Americans will elect the next president of the United States.
Hey, wait a minute: That's more than a year and a half away. So why is it that every day there are headlines, news reports and photographs of all these people running for the country's top job?
And why should you care, given that, if you are reading this page, chances are pretty good you won't be old enough to vote on Nov. 4, 2008? (For those grown-ups reading this, we won't tattle; we love our young-at-heart readers!)
Read on for the lowdown on the election process, why it started so early and, hopefully, why you really should care.
Who can become president?
The Constitution has some rules on this. You have to be at least 35 years old. You have to be a natural-born citizen, and you have to have lived in the United States for at least 14 years.
And it's not in the Constitution, but you need to have (or be able to raise) lots of money to run for president. The Democratic and Republican nominees could each wind up spending $500 million before the election. Candidates raise money by seeking donations from people and groups who believe in their positions on the issues of the day. It costs a lot of money to fly around the country campaigning and to buy ads on radio and TV, and in newspapers. The government, through the Federal Election Commission, keeps track of how much money candidates get and from whom.
What happens when?
While the general election isn't until November 2008, the first votes in the process of deciding who will be the next president will be cast early next year. On Jan. 14, voters in Iowa will meet to choose delegates to represent them at the party conventions in August and September of 2008.
There are two major political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. Each party will nominate a candidate after a series of elections called caucuses and primaries. In the month or so following the Iowa caucuses, people in as many as two dozen other states will vote for their choice to be their party's nominee. The candidate who does best in these early elections often goes on to win his or her party's nomination.
Historic election, Part 1
Much of the time, it's fairly clear who is going to be the nominee of at least one, if not both, major parties. For example, if a first-term president decides to seek re-election, it's rare for someone in his own party to challenge him. (Presidents who have served two terms, as George W. Bush has, cannot seek a third term.) Sometimes, when a president can't run, the vice president will. If he does, he is pretty much guaranteed his party's nomination.
The election of 2008 will be the first time since the 1950s that neither a sitting president nor vice president will be running for office. The uncertainty about who will be the nominees makes this election more exciting.
Historic election, Part 2
The election of 2008 has the potential for an important first in U.S. history. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (a Democrat) is seeking to become the first female president. Sen. Barack Obama (also a Democrat) would be the first black president. New Mexico's Gov. Bill Richardson (another Democrat) would be the first Hispanic president, and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (a Republican) would be the first Mormon president.
Why should I care who is president?
The president affects issues such as education, war, the environment, crime and the economy (the cost of food, clothing and housing; how many people are employed; how much of what people earn gets paid to the government as taxes). In other words, he or she affects decisions about your world.
