It's Their Party

• Contrary to what some Americans believe, the U.S. Constitution does not prescribe a process for choosing the presidential nominees. After all, political parties did not exist in the United States at the time the Constitution was written. Rather, the presidential selection process, consisting of primary elections and caucuses held in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is controlled by the Democratic and Republican parties. Each party has a primary election or caucus in each state. Winning a primary or caucus means winning some or even all of that state's delegates for the political party with which the candidate is affiliated. The primary election season begins in January in presidential election years and ends later in the spring of that year. Critics of the existing primary system contend that it gives too much influence to states with early primaries. They also charge that many times, a candidate in each party will emerge as a clear leader in delegates, meaning that by the time states with later primaries hold their contests, the nominations are all but decided.
  
  

Retail Politics

• Iowa and New Hampshire have the first presidential selection contests. An early win in either state gives a candidate momentum that can carry him or her to subsequent primaries. For this reason, candidates spend a lot of time in the two states, making public appearances, speaking at small gatherings and talking with voters face-to-face. This is one reason that the primaries are held on different days: doing so forces the candidates to get out and meet voters personally rather than relying solely on television advertising and other media.
  
  

So Why Not a National Primary?

• Critics of the current primary system say it gives excessive influence to Iowa and New Hampshire, both small, rural states. An increasing number of states have scheduled their primaries earlier so as to have more influence early in the presidential nominating process. In 2008, more than a dozen states with more than 60 percent of the nation's population held their primaries on February 5. Some voters and political activists have called for scrapping the current primary system, which lasts several months, and replacing it with a national primary held on one day. However, a single-day primary system in a nation as geographically large as the United States would likely force candidates to rely more on advertising to spread their message because there would not be enough time to travel to every state, meeting with voters. Because of the costs associated with an advertising campaign, a national primary day would favor wealthy, well-financed candidates at the expense of those with grassroots support but less money and organization.