As if one could miss it today the Republican and Democratic parties will hold a primary vote in the state of New Hampshire which is the second step in the nominating process in which the parties will choose their candidate for the general election which takes place on November 4. What's important to remember is that after New Hampshire there are 48 other primaries and caucuses to follow along with those in Guam, U.S. Virgin islands, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
Why is so much importance placed on New Hampshire? Because of the media which views this a barometer for future primaries as people must actually go to a polling station to cast their vote. Here's the problem, or one of many problems with that belief. Mitt Romney won the Republican primary there in 2012 and promptly lost the South Carolina primary to Newt Gingrich. For the Democrats Hillary Clinton won and failed to win the party's nomination losing to President Obama. Second it isn't a very good representation of the American electorate as it 98% white. Finally in the general election New Hampshire has no effect on the outcome because it only has 4 electoral votes. Once the candidates leave the state they will not return for any type of campaign event.
Each party has different requirements in place for choosing their official candidate
For the Republicans a candidate needs 1,144 delegates to win the nomination and become the official candidate.
For the Democrats which is a much larger party the process is completely different along with needing a much larger delegate count to become the party's official candidate. To become the Democratic presidential candidate you need 2,383 delegates. What's different isn't only the larger number of delegates but the existence of Super Delegates
Why is so much importance placed on New Hampshire? Because of the media which views this a barometer for future primaries as people must actually go to a polling station to cast their vote. Here's the problem, or one of many problems with that belief. Mitt Romney won the Republican primary there in 2012 and promptly lost the South Carolina primary to Newt Gingrich. For the Democrats Hillary Clinton won and failed to win the party's nomination losing to President Obama. Second it isn't a very good representation of the American electorate as it 98% white. Finally in the general election New Hampshire has no effect on the outcome because it only has 4 electoral votes. Once the candidates leave the state they will not return for any type of campaign event.
Each party has different requirements in place for choosing their official candidate
For the Republicans a candidate needs 1,144 delegates to win the nomination and become the official candidate.
For the Democrats which is a much larger party the process is completely different along with needing a much larger delegate count to become the party's official candidate. To become the Democratic presidential candidate you need 2,383 delegates. What's different isn't only the larger number of delegates but the existence of Super Delegates
This list tracks the stated support for given candidates among the approximately 712 unpledged delegates (commonly known as "Superdelegates") who will cast a vote at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, to be held July 25–28 in Philadelphia.[1] Unpledged delegates represent about a sixth of the overall delegate count (approximately 4,763) and come from several categories of prominent Democratic Party members:
- 20 Distinguished Party Leaders (current and former Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Congressional leaders, and DNC Chairs)
- 20 Democratic governors (including territorial governors and the Mayor of the District of Columbia)
- 47 Democratic members of the United States Senate (including Washington, DC Shadow Senators)
- 193 Democratic members of the United States House of Representatives (including non-voting Delegates)
- [432] Elected members of the Democratic National Committee (including the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of each state's Democratic Party
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