This upcoming Monday, July 18 begins the Republican National Convention which will go through the 21st. The Democratic National Convention will follow shortly after beginning the 25th and going through the 28th. As a result, I thought it was the perfect time to go over the purpose of the convention as well as what you can expect to be different or come out of the convention.
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| Democratic Convention 2008 // Credit: PBS |
The Purpose: The main purpose of the convention is to officially nominate the party's candidate for president. All the delegates who were elected in each state's primary, caucus or convention will reaffirm their selection. The vice presidential candidate is usually selected by the presumptive nominee before the convention and affirmed at the convention. The convention is also when the parties will affirm their platform(the views of the party as a whole). There are also several speakers at the convention who serve to reaffirm the parties beliefs. As you can see the whole convention process is mostly for show, often time some rulemaking or debate can happen at the convention, but most of the time it is just a formal process that helps the party and the candidate to get attention and have time to present their views.
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| Republican Convention 2008 // Credit: ABC |
Outcome: The result of the convention is the party finally has an official nominee for president and vice president, as well as an official party platform. The party and the nominee can now focus on the general election(even though they already were). It's a ceremony that is rooted in showcasing party loyalty and strength as well as helping the nominee and the party to get some air time.
Presumptive Nominee: The presumptive nominee is what the candidate from each party is called from the time they reach the necessary number of delegates until the convention. For example, Hillary Clinton became the presumptive Democratic Nominee June 6th and will remain it until she is nominated at the convention.
Nominee: The presidential candidate from each party after the convention. For example, after the convention ends next Thursday Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee.
Platform: The platform is the what the party believes in. It is also the issues that they would like to focus on throughout the campaign. It is created by the Republican leaders and often is supported by the presumptive nominee. For example, the 2016 Republican platform is said to have Trump's proposed Mexican border wall on it.
Contested Convention: You may recognize this term because it was thrown around a lot a few months ago. It is basically when one person does not have the necessary amount of delegates to become the presumptive nominee. As a result, they must have a vote at the convention, so the party can come to a consensus on who to choose. Sometimes this requires several rounds of voting and the elimination of some candidates. Parties don't like this because it takes the focus off of the party's issues as well as the nominee doesn't get near as much attention or airtime. For an example of a contested convention check out this clip from West Wing!
Delegate: A delegate is someone who speaks on behalf of an organization. In this case, each state has delegates at the convention. These delegates are party activists. The delegates are required to pledge allegiance to their district or state winner to represent the will of the people. If there is a contested convention, then they are only required to pledge to their state/district in the first round and may swap sides in later rounds.
Super Delegate: A super delegate has the same job as a delegate except they are a party insider and they are not bound to vote a certain way. They may vote for any candidate. For example, this election cycle most democratic super delegates are said to probably be going to Hillary Clinton as they usually back establishment candidates.
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| Nancy Pelosi speaking at the 2008 Democratic Convention // Credit: UPI |
I hope this will give you some clarity on the biggest political focuses for the next two weeks. If you have any questions at all please comment down bellow or shoot me a quick email!
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