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Voters, Take Your Pick!

Runners, on your marks! the biggest race in politics is about to begin. The first-place winner takes home a huge prize: the job of President of the United States!

But be warned: this is no short, easy race. Becoming the President of the United States is not simply a matter of winning the most votes. The presidential-election process has lots of rules, and some of them are confusing. Candidates for the job of President start campaigning months--sometimes years--before the big election in November. Along the way, they must overcome lots of hurdles.

The Warm-Up Events
A small statewide election on the road to the big election is called a primary. Like a popularity contest, a primary lets candidates see whether voters like them. Primaries often help candidates who are considered underdogs move ahead in the race.

Not every state holds a primary election. Some hold neighborhood meetings called caucuses. At caucuses, people belonging to the same party gather to debate the pluses and minuses of the candidates. Then they hold a vote, often called a straw poll. The candidate who wins the most straw polls usually wins the state.

Right now, all eyes are on Iowa and New Hampshire. The Iowa caucuses take place this week. The New Hampshire primary is February 20. After that, primaries and caucuses will continue around the country through June.

Who's In The Running?
This year the Republicans have a fierce competition going in the primaries and caucuses. On the Democratic side, President Clinton has no serious challengers. Although he has not officially announced his candidacy, his campaign has collected more than $37 million in donations. Last week Clinton traveled to New Hampshire. Many people viewed the trip as the kickoff to his campaign.

Among Republicans, Bob Dole of Kansas has been the favored candidate so far. Dole holds the most powerful position in the Senate, and has served in political office for 35 years. But some people are worried that Dole is too old to be President. At age 73, he would be the oldest American ever elected President.

There is another reason why Dole can't rest easy: millionaire Steve Forbes. So far, Forbes is attracting lots of attention from voters and reporters. Forbes has never held any elected office, but he has lots of money to run his presidential campaign and owns a powerful magazine called Forbes. Lately Forbes has been pushing a new tax idea that he hopes will appeal to voters. "I think our message of hope, growth and opportunity," says Forbes, "is getting across to voters."

Other Republicans campaigning for the presidential nomination include Lamar Alexander, the former Governor of Tennessee; Senator Phil Gramm of Texas; and Pat Buchanan, who was once an assistant to President Richard Nixon.

The Race Is On!
All these candidates will be in New Hampshire next week trying to win over voters and pull ahead in the race for the White House. They will be giving speeches throughout the state, shaking thousands of hands and kissing babies. The candidates will also be flooding television with campaign advertisements. Sometimes these ads are sharply critical of other candidates. After viewing one of Forbes' "attack ads," Dole joked, "I may not even vote for myself."

Once the primaries are over in June, it's on to the whopper of political events: the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, which take place in August. The conventions are huge televised gatherings, filled with speeches, parties, music and balloons. "A chess tournament disguised as a circus" is how Alistair Cooke, a famous British author, described them.

But it's not all fun and games. The purpose of the conventions is for each party to nominate its official candidate for President. From then on, it's the homestretch. Each party's candidate will run the race to its end: election night on November 5.

Who do you think will cross the finish line first?

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Did You Know?

• Television wasn't available back in the late 1700s, when Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton were political rivals. So to gain voters' attention, each man started his own newspaper.
• Candidates didn't always travel the country seeking votes. In 1920 Warren G. Harding did most of his campaigning from his front porch in Marion, Ohio.
• Since 1952, every Republican President elected to the office first won the New Hampshire primary.
• In 1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first presidential candidate to use television advertising in a campaign.
• In 1968 Hubert H. Humphrey did not run in any primary elections but was still selected as his party's candidate at the Democratic Convention.
• In the last presidential election, only a little more than half of all U.S. citizens who were eligible to vote actually voted.

Primary Source: Selecting the President (Congressional Quarterly Inc.)

Next: A Touch Of Magic