January 13, 2000. Copyright 1999. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE

LONDON, January 13, Graphic News: PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES are set to begin their marathon down the road to the White House with the influential Iowa caucus on January 24 and New Hampshire primary election on February 1. 

By mid-August two contenders will have been decided, at a cost to the nine Òwanna-beÓ presidents of more than $150 million in campaign funds.

The bid for the 43rd presidency begins with state-by-state votes Ð primary elections or party caucuses, depending on local preference Ð in which the two major parties elect delegates who will choose their candidates at the Democratic and Republican national conventions in the summer. The race ends with the general election on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. This year America votes on November 7.

Since 1992, many states have moved their presidential primaries or caucuses to dates earlier in the year. As a result about 70 percent of the delegates to the national conventions will have been selected by the end of March.

On the Democratic Party side, Vice President Al Gore is being challenged for the nomination by former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley. The Republican front-runner is Texas governor George W. Bush, son of former President George Bush. His closest rivals are Arizona senator John McCain and publisher Steve Forbes.

At state party ballots, beginning in Iowa, registered voters of the parties select delegates to the national conventions. At the summer conventions delegates pledge to back a particular candidate Ð the one with a majority wins the nomination.

Convention delegates are allocated among the states according to a complex formula based on each stateÕs population, voting history and other factors; this results in some delegates having ÒfractionalÓ votes.

The Republican convention takes place in Philadelphia between July 31 and August 3, the Democratic one in Los Angeles from August 14-17.

The Reform Party, founded by billionaire businessman Ross Perot, meets at Long Beach, California from August 10-13 to nominate its presidential candidate. Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan and real estate developer Donald Trump are the main contenders.

The Republicans have 2,067 delegate votes, of which 1,034 are needed to win the nomination. The Democrats have 4,336 delegate votes, with 2,169 required for victory.

Enormous influence is held by two relatively small states: Iowa, which for the past 28 years has held the first caucuses of the campaign, and New Hampshire, which stages the first primary.

The high cost of mounting the presidential campaign Ð some $750,000 per state Ð will quickly cut the field down to two or three major contenders. However, the winner of Iowa will be rewarded with massive media publicity in the week leading up to New Hampshire. 

Over the past 48 years every candidate to be elected president has first won his partyÕs New Hampshire primary, with the exception of Bill Clinton in 1992.

Fourteen states, including New York, California and five states in New England, vote on March 7 Ð Super Tuesday. One or both nominees may be determined that night.

If not, they may be confirmed a week later when Florida and Texas are among six states voting. Once the nominations are decided, the nominees choose their vice-presidential running mates. The general election campaign traditionally starts on Labor Day, usually the first Monday in September.

The U.S. president is not directly elected by the people but by a body established under the Constitution called the Electoral College. Its members mirror the wishes of the voters in their state, so that whoever wins a majority of the popular vote also receives all of that stateÕs electoral votes.

The Electoral College has 538 members in all, with the number of electors from each state decided according to population. A simple majority of 270 votes is needed to win.

By the end of election night the identity of the new resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will be known. The most costly race in the world will have been run and won.

/ENDS

Sources: Reuters, Federal Election Commission, C-SPAN Campaign 2000