Can Someone tell me how the Presidential Primaries work?

Question

Can someone explain what winning a Presidential Primary is? I read about it all the time and really have no idea what it means! Who votes in the presidential primary of a state? I had read that RFK won the California Presidential Primary before he was assassinated, and it was considered a 'major victory'. Who is it against and who decides who wins?

How does voting work? Are all the names of the Candidates listed and citizens of the state vote for ONE. (If you wanted Hilary Clinton, you would vote for her, and that counts as one vote in the Primary)

So are there 2 winners in each state - the Republican and Democrat? Or....?

Answer 1

It's sort of like an election, except each state does their own and it's for choosing between candidates in the same party to decide who will go on to represent them in the general election. This means that when your state has a 'primary' there are actually two elections going on; the Democrats are choosing their candidate and the Republicans are also picking someone to run.

In most states, only members of a party can vote for that party's candidate; this means voters that aren't registered with a party (unaffiliated voters) don't get to vote. A few states have 'open' primaries which allow anyone to vote, but you have to decide which party's primary you're voting for. (Then there's Louisiana, but let's not get into that.)

Most primaries involve candidates for state and local offices. When there is a Presidential election, the candidates 'win' a certain number of delegates from each state for the party's national convention. The number of delegates for each state is roughly proportional to the number of party members in that state, not the actual population.

These delegates are expected - but *not* legally required - to vote for 'their' candidate to be the national nominee. If no candidate has a compelling majority of delegates, then debates take place and delegates may switch choices; additional votes are taken until someone has a big enough majority to become the party nominee for President.

In most elections, by the time all the primaries have taken place there is a single clear front-runner; when this happens the party convention is more like a pep rally and the nomination process is mostly a formality. When there is division within a party and no clear choice, the conventions can get *very* interesting.

Answer 2

The Primaries are where the Democratic candidates face the Democratic candidates and the Republicans face the Republicans. There are Primaries held in all 50 states, but are done state by state. I believe Iowa is one of the first states along with South Carolina. The winners of the primaries are given the nominations at the Democratic and Republican conventions and face each other in the actual election.

Answer 3

Obama - would you want a newbie to run the company you work for? No because he would run it into the ground. Clinton - What's wrong with having Bill as first man? He was a decent president and this is coming from a republican. Edwards - I think he is okay. His son died a few years ago and he is still going strong. Death is a part of life and I think he will cope just fine if his wife doesn't make it. Richardson - Who's he? Kidding... But seriously he won't make it. Kucinich - I love this guy. And his wife. Oh man...he is such a rock star. I can't say anything bad about him. Giuliani - I actually like this guy but I don't think he will make it. I've nothing bad to say about him. He does have skeletons in the closet that will make him a bad nomination. McCain - He is like 300 years old. He isn't a wacko. Paul - I like this fellow as well but he won't make it as he isn't well known. Huckabee - Gross. I dislike him most of all. You really don't know where he stands.

Answer 4

The Democratic voters vote for who they wish to represent their party in the general election. Republican voters get together and do the same.

So, for example, whichever party you are part of, you get to cast a vote for that person. Your vote says "I want that person to get my party's nomination." At the Conventions, electors come together and cast the votes (representing all the votes that were cast) and the most popular person of each party across the country wins. Then they face each other in November.

Answer 5

Its where each party narrows down all their people for who they want to run. Where you have a list of democrats and you pick what democrat you want to run for President. Or you have a list of republicans, you pick which one you want to run..
Thats probably not the best example, im not very good at explaining things.