What does the cartoon suggest about presidential

primaries?
Enquiry Question: How do primaries help
select a presidential candidate?
 Learning Outcomes
• To explain the significance of role of the invisible
primary
• To analyse the pattern of primaries and caucuses and
extent of 'frontloading’
An invisible primary, sometimes known as a money
primary, is the period of time between a candidate’s
declaration or expressed interest in running for an elected
office and the start of the primary season.
Watch the video clip.
The Invisible Primary/The Money Primary
• During the invisible primary, from declaration to the first official primary,
candidates will raise money and gather support through grassroots campaigns.
• It is here that they will seek to create an initial burst of momentum going into
the first primary.
• They will seek also to create an air of inevitability surrounding them, so that the
voting population will hopefully get on board behind their candidacy.
• The idea is to approach the primary with a well stocked campaign war chest
which they can utilise throughout the primary process.
• Furthermore during this period, Political Action Committees and Super PACs will
be more active than candidates official campaigns.
• It is during this time that they have the most freedom to coordinate with the
official campaigns.
• PACs and Super PACs will typically make up the bulk of the advertising on behalf
of their candidates.
• To ‘win’ an invisible primary candidates will have typically have raised the most
money in their official campaigns, have a sizable PAC and Super PAC
contributions behind them and be polling consistently ahead of the rest of the
field.
 SPOTLIGHT: PACs and Super PACs

• So what are Super

PACs and PACs
anyway?
• Watch the video clip.
• What is a PAC?
• How can PACs spend
and raise money?
• What is a Super PAC
and how can it spend
and raise money?
• Video Clip 2
There have been several plans floated
to reform the primaries system:
- A national primary
- Four regional primaries -
Northeast, South, Mid-west,
West
- Limits on campaign spending
- Pre-primary mini-conventions
to decide who runs in primaries
- States vote in size-order
(smallest first)
Problems with possible reforms
include:
- National committees and
conventions must agree to
change the system
- 50 states would have to change
laws
- Many states favour current
system
- Limiting spending requires acts
of Congress and past attempts
have been struck down as
unconstitutional by the Supreme
Court.
Why is the invisible primary thought to be so
important?
 Why is the invisible primary
thought to be so important?
IMPORTANT:
• Candidates are weakened out by the process. For example, by December
2007 the Democrat field had been weakened to three candidates, and the
Republican field remained opened, the moderate performance of Rudy
Gialini and Fred Thompson had sealed their fate.
• This is an important way to build up the “warchest” and ensure that the
campaign has enough resources to draw from in the future.
NOT IMPORTANT:
• The momentum of the campaign is more important than the front runner
status, like Clinton in 2008, who won the primary elections but lost
candidacy.
• Pressure groups could help provide the funding for a candidate; thus
decreasing its significance as it reduces the need for the invisible primary
if the funding is mostly provided.
 Why is the invisible primary
thought to be so important?

YOUR TASK:
• This is a very typical mid-Level 2 answer.
• Read the sample answer.
• There are four valid points and some
• Annotate
degreetheof answer as a teacher
explanation would, for
and development.
example
• On thefocusing on accuracy,
debit side, there arestructure,
very few
examples and written
examples; there isexpression.
a lack of clarity in
• Use places
the markandscheme
the candidate
to awardwastes
a leveltime
and a
with their introduction and definition of
mark.
anainterest
• Write group. for your mark to this
brief justification
• It was awarded 9 marks.
student.
 Examiner Advice
• This excellent and comprehensive response would achieve the highest
mark because of the accurate, detailed and relevant evidence (AO1)
relating to the ‘invisible primary’ as well as a clear focus on its
‘significance’ (AO2) as demanded by the question, rather than simple and
less accurate description that tends to be found in lower level responses.
• This focus is sustained throughout the response which may be a little
giving too much detail in parts (one example of a point is sufficient rather
than three) and this may have left less time for the following essay
response.
• Finally, the student explains why the invisible primary may be viewed as
being both ‘significant’ as well as lacking significance giving a balanced
and evaluative view.
• Excellent political vocabulary is used throughout the response
(frontloading, momentum).
 Learning Outcomes
• To explain the significance of role of the invisible
primary
• To analyse the pattern of primaries and caucuses and
extent of 'frontloading’
 Frontloading
YOUR TASK:

Look back at • After Iowa and New Hampshire, the South

the 2016 Carolina primary and Nevada caucuses
Presidential
Election followed. And then on March 1, so-
Schedule called Super Tuesday, things really got rolling
handout when 14 states (and one territory) held their
from the
previous primary or caucus all on the same day.
lesson.
• By mid-June, all the states will have held
What pattern
their primaries and caucuses. Each statewide
do you contest earns delegates for winning
notice in the candidates, and those delegates will formally
primaries
and choose the party nominee at the national
caucuses? party conventions to be held during the
summer.
Analysis: What changes are shown in when states choose their nominee for
president?
 Analysis: What changes are shown
in when states choose their nominee
for president?

What do you
think the
impact of this
will be?
What impact does frontloading have?
• Most of the delegates are “pledged” — or bound by the
rules — to vote for the candidate selected by state voters.
A minority of delegates, however, are “unpledged,”
meaning they can vote for whomever they want at the
nominating convention.
• Since 1968, when the primary system was reformed, the
presumptive party nominees have typically been declared
even before the final primaries have been held because
the front-runner candidates have garnered a majority of
delegates.
• But, there is always the unlikely possibility that by the start
of a party convention, no single candidate has secured a
majority of delegates from the primaries and caucuses.
Then things can really get suspenseful. And already, many
primary voters are getting frustrated as they learn that the
“world’s foremost democracy is not so purely democratic.”
2016: Case Study
 2016: Case Study
YOUR TASK:
• Create a report on the results of both the Republican and Democrat
primaries and caucuses in the 2016 election.
• You will need to include:
– A full breakdown of results of each primary/caucus
– The number of delegates each candidate received in total
– The amount of money raised by each candidate during the
primaries

Websites:
• http://edition.cnn.com/election/2016/primaries/parties/republican
• http://edition.cnn.com/election/2016/primaries/parties/democrat
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_presidential_primaries,_2016
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_presidential_primaries,_2016
• https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/primary-calendar-and-results.html
 Learning Outcomes
• To explain the significance of role of the invisible
primary
• To analyse the pattern of primaries and caucuses and
extent of 'frontloading’
 Homework
Application Task:
Why is the invisible primary thought to be so
important? (15)
Preparation Task:
Campaign Finance (Pearson p417-419)
Stretch & Challenge Task
Campaign Finance (Bennett p70-72)