The Primary System
By Heather Holliday

	Two Democratic candidates take a minute to discuss the issues as they make their way to the South Carolina debates in May. Florida Senator Bob Graham (left) and Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman are just two of a wide field of Democratic candidates who are living out of their suitcases as they stump for office. (Photo Courtesy Joe Lieberman for President)

Nine Democrats are hoping to run for president against the current president, Republican George W. Bush, in 2004. Now, more than a year before that election, they are crisscrossing the nation, trying to sell themselves to voters. Each wants to grab the most attention and become the front-runner in the race. To do so, they need voters to be able to differentiate them and they need to raise money.

“This period of time, before the primaries, is considered the pre-primaries or the invisible primary,” said Mike Xenos, a researcher for the center for communication and civic engagement at the University of Washington. “All of these Democratic hopefuls are campaigning, trying to build up their support for the primaries.”

Primary elections start in January. Primary elections happen from state to state and are when each party’s voters elect their presidential nominee. Some states, like Colorado, Utah and Kansas will hold smaller, less expensive caucuses instead of elections, to choose their delegates. A caucus is a meeting of political party members that selects which candidate will run for office.

Whether chosen by caucus or by primary election, each state’s delegate then goes to the party’s national convention. The winner of this year’s Democratic National Convention will run against the Republican candidate, who is the current President Bush.

Campaigning

Fundraising is always a vital part of running for the primaries. With money, a candidate who makes an early splash will be able to follow it up with travelling to meet voters and with expensive TV ads. And, once nominated for the Democratic presidential candidacy, plenty of money will be needed to campaign against President Bush’s anticipated $200 million-plus campaign.

Presidential candidates also spend their time differentiating themselves from other candidates during the primary campaigns. To do so, Xenos said, candidates often state their views more extremely than they may do so in a general election campaign.

"People who vote in primaries and participate in caucuses are more active in their parties than the average voter is," said Xenos. “That makes it so that [primary candidates] really have to appeal to the party faithful, more so than in the general election. So, if you’re a conservative [candidate] you paint yourself as more conservative. If you’re a liberal, you paint yourself as more liberal, generally speaking.”

To differentiate themselves from each other, candidates combine what is called paid and unpaid media, said Xenos. Paid media includes commercials and unpaid media include appearances that are designed to generate press coverage. So far, in the pre-primaries, “there hasn’t been a lot of TV advertising yet,” he said. “But there has been media coverage and fundraising.” TV advertising will likely pick up once the primary voting starts.

This year, Howard Dean, a Democratic candidate from Vermont, has gotten a lot of attention for using the Internet as a campaigning tool. “Dean made a splash when he made a lot of money quickly using the Internet,” said Xenos. “Dean is attracting a lot of party activist extremists who will go to his Web site to find out what they can do. They talk about using a Web presence to organize locally and use it to connect with the national party and to share strategies and fliers.”

John Kerry, a Democratic candidate from Massachusetts, has also jumped on the Internet bandwagon. Both he and Dean are using a Web site called meetup.com, which connects neighbors who share a common interest, to organize support.

While the Democratic presidential candidates are campaigning, President Bush didn't get involved in the race until March. “There was not much for him to do [before then],” said Xenos.