Билет 49. M. Twain – Running for governor (short story)

1) composition

2) presidential elections in the US

United States presidential election determines who serves as president and vice president of the United States for a four-year term, starting at midday on Inauguration Day, which is January 20 of the year after the election. The elections are conducted by the various states and not by the federal government.

The presidential election occurs quadrennially. Elections are held on Election Day—the Tuesday after the first Monday in November of every fourth year.

The current process is an indirect election. Constitutionally, the election is by United States Electoral College electors, who are chosen by methods each state individually establishes. The electors can vote for anyone, but—with rare exceptions—they vote for the designated candidates and their votes are certified by Congress in early January. The Congress is the final judge of the electors.

These electors are appointed by mechanisms chosen by each state's legislature (prevailingly, by popular vote of the voters of each state). The individual who receives a majority of votes for president — as of 2008, 270 votes are needed for a majority — will be the president-elect of the United States; and the individual who receives a majority of electoral votes for vice president will be the vice president-elect of the United States. If no presidential candidate receives a majority in the Electoral College, then the president-elect will be selected by a vote of the House of Representatives, with each state receiving a single vote. If no vice presidential candidate receives a majority, then the vice president-elect will be selected by a vote of the Senate. Although rare, these latter scenarios have occurred twice in America's history; the House of Representatives chose the president in 1825, and the Senate chose the vice president in 1837.

Nominating process

The nominating process of U.S. presidential elections currently consists of two major parts: a series of presidential primary elections and caucuses held in each state, and the presidential nominating conventions held by each political party. This process is not included in the United States Constitution, and evolved over time.

The primary elections and caucuses are run by state and local governments. Some states only hold primary elections, some only hold caucuses, and others use a combination of both. These primaries and caucuses are staggered between January and June before the federal election, with Iowa and New Hampshire traditionally holding the first presidential state caucus and primary, respectively.

Like the general election, presidential caucuses or primaries select the candidates indirectly. The major political parties officially vote for their presidential candidate at their respective nominating conventions, usually all held in the summer before the federal election. Depending on each state's law and state's political party rules, when voters cast ballots for a candidate in a presidential caucus or primary, they may actually be voting to award delegates " bound" to vote for a candidate at the presidential nominating conventions, or they may simply be expressing an opinion that the state party is not bound to follow in selecting delegates to their respective national convention.

In addition to delegates chosen during primaries and caucuses, state delegations to both the Democratic and Republican conventions also include " unpledged" delegates who can vote for whomever they want. For Republicans, these include top party officials. Democrats have a more expansive group of unpledged delegates called " superdelegates", who are party leaders and elected officials.

Contemporary electoral success has favored state governors. Of the last five presidents, four (Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush) have been governors of a state (all except for George H. W. Bush). Geographically, these presidents were from either very large states (California, Texas) or from a state south of the Mason-Dixon Line and east of Texas (Georgia, Arkansas).

Ballot candidates

Many voting ballots allow a voter to " blanket vote" for all candidates in a particular political party or to select individual candidates on a line by line voting system. Which candidates appear on the voting ticket is determined through a legal process known as ballot access.

The final way to be elected for president is to have one's name written in at the time of election as a write-in candidate. This is used for candidates who did not fulfill the legal requirements to be pre-listed on the voting ticket. It is also used by voters to express a distaste for the listed candidates, by writing in a ridiculous candidate for president such as Mickey Mouse. In any event, a write-in candidate has never won an election for President of the United States.

Voter turnout

Voter turnout in presidential elections has been on the decline in recent years, although the 2004 election showed a noticeable increase over the turnout in 1996 and 2000.

The voting age population includes all persons age 18 and over as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, which necessarily includes a significant number of persons ineligible to vote, such as non-citizens, felons, and the mentally incompetent. The actual number of eligible voters is somewhat lower, and the number of registered voters is lower still. Note that the large drop in percentage turnout between 1968 and 1972 can be attributed (at least in part) to the expansion of the franchise to 18 year olds (previously restricted to those 21 and older).

The US Constitution specifies that a president must be elected every four years. Candidates wanting to go for the most powerful job in the world must be at least 35 years old and a US citizen born in the USA. Candidates may begin to campaign unofficially as early as one and a half to two years before the election takes place. They usually announce officially that they are running for President at least a year before National Election Day (which is always the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November).

The Primaries

Between February and June of the election year, each political party has to decide on a candidate to represent it. The primary is the first step in choosing a party’s presidential candidate. In most countries, the party picks the candidate. But in the US, voters who declare support for one party or another (i.e. registered Democrats and registered Republicans, for example) get to choose from the list of candidates.

There may be as many as seven or eight people who would like to be the party nominee. The candidates, campaigning against other members of the same party, must win enough state primaries (primary elections) to give them a majority of delegates at the party convention in the summer. In addition to indicating the presidential candidate of their choice, voters elect a slate of delegates who will represent the state at the national party convention later in the year.

Some states use a caucus system rather than primaries to choose their delegates. Whereas in primaries people simply indicate at the ballot box which delegates they support, caucuses (the word derives from an Indian word for a gathering) are more complex and work by selecting delegates through a number of stages.

The first state to hold a primary vote is Iowa (it has the caucus system); the second is New Hampshire. The winners of those primaries, who get special attention from the media, then try to convince the voters of other states to join their supporters. Their opponents try to win whatever primary is next. By early summer there are only a few men left to compete, as those who lost one or more primaries gradually give up.

The Convention

The national party conventions are one of the great set pieces of American politics. After each state party has chosen its preferred candidate, these party conventions are held. Each state arrives at the hall with its own delegates and banners declaring which presidential candidate it supports. By this stage, the party normally knows who has won. The delegates from each state formally choose their champion to go forward as presidential candidate. The candidate with the most delegates wins – and normally secures the support of party rivals. The winning candidate is officially nominated to run for the presidency; he becomes the nominee.

The nominee then chooses a vice-presidential running mate (person to campaign with him). The convention votes on his suggestion. Running mates are usually picked because they come from another part of the country than the nominee and/or they attract a different kind of voter.

The Campaign

There is heavy spending on nationwide television publicity, and there are usually televised debates between the candidates. In the final weeks, the contenders typically concentrate their attention on the big so-called “swing states” as they battle it out for the critical Electoral College votes. The conclusion of the campaign is Election Day in November.

Election Day

The US does not have a true “one-man-one-vote” system. Instead, according to the Constitution, the president actually must be chosen by the Electoral College. It is a group of electors from all states and the District of Columbia, who convene for balloting in December.

The number of Electoral College members in each state reflects the state’s representation in Congress. The electors in all the states are chosen in a statewide election. In most states they are nominated in primary elections and listed on the ballot in the general presidential election. The party that wins the most votes in each state (except Maine) wins all of that state’s Electoral College members. The other party gets none. Once a party (and hence its candidate) gets a majority of members from across the states, the election is over in the public’s mind.

But in fact the Electoral College members do formally meet in their state capitals and vote for the president. It is expected that every elector will vote for the candidate chosen by his party’s national convention. When the electors have voted, a copy of each state’s results is sent by mail to the president of the US Senate. The state results are counted before the full Congress in January.

To become President a candidate must receive at least 270 votes, which constitutes a bare majority in the 538-member Electoral College. If no candidate gets a majority, then the House of Representatives must choose the President from among the three highest candidates. When the House meets, each state has only one vote.

The number of electors from each state, like the Representatives in Congress, is determined by population. But the population of a district can vary from under 450, 000 to about 750, 000; so not all districts are equally well represented in the Electoral College. In close elections it is possible for a candidate to receive the majority of popular votes but lose in the Electoral College.

The new President takes office on January 20 after the vote of the Electoral College. His term is for four years, and he may serve two terms if he can get re-elected four years later.

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