Available Online, 1780, Political Cartoons | Library of Congress (loc.gov)
The Library of Congress’s collection of political cartoons, which contains documents from before the publishing of the Declaration of Independence, provides a well-rounded view of public opinion surrounding presidential candidates and elected officials.
The Most Important Presidential Debates in American History | Time
This article discusses the five most influential presidential debates in American history, what made them important, and how they have shaped the evolution of the presidential debate as both a medium to get to know candidates and how relevant they are to the outcome of elections. These instances also highlight important changes such as the introduction of television to create a timeline of the modern presidential debate.
This is legislature that has been enacted in 16 states; here is the current status of the bill across the US. https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/state-status
https://www.270towin.com/content/superdelegate-rule-changes-for-the-2020-democratic-nomination
A brief article about the role of superdelegates in the Democratic candidate selection, and how the party changed their role after 2016.
https://www.businessinsider.com/presidential-election-photography-over-the-years-2016-9
This interesting article from Business Insider outlines the evolution of photographing Presidential campaigns and events from 1960 to the present day. It covers debates, public relations events, media interactions, and more.
https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2019/11/13/should-columbus-bid-to-host-the-dnc-or-rnc.html
Determining the location of a party convention is a key strategic decision for both the Democratic and Republican parties. Considerations often include city size (whether a city has the capacity to host a convention) and strategic political location (often in swing states or states with shifting voting tendencies).
Columbus, Ohio is considering hosting either of the Democratic or Republican conventions in 2024. Ohio’s historical position as a swing state with many electoral votes positions it well to exert influence on the decision-making processes of both parties. Examining the decision from the city’s perspective (as opposed to a party’s perspective) is an interesting and important analysis – Columbus estimates it would take $60 million to lure one of the parties to the city for a convention. Putting such a large sum of money towards a political event may detract from other community needs, say some officials. On the flip side, a convention could bring an economic boom to a city (with many people requiring lodging, food, etc.)
This database from the University of Indiana houses political cartoons related to Presidential elections from 1789 to 1976. A particularly interesting set came from the 1832 election, where Henry Clay and his supporters depicted Andrew Jackson as a king abusing his veto power. The famous “King Andrew the First” cartoon came from this election, as well as the first depiction of Uncle Sam in a political cartoon.
https://prod-cdn-static.gop.com/docs/Resolution_Platform_2020.pdf
As Professor Martin mentioned in class, for the 2020 Republican Convention, the Republican National Committee did not adopt a new platform as compared to their 2016 platform. In fact, it appears the only change the party made from 2016 to 2020 was the addition of a one-page resolution that outlined why they were not adopting a new, or even revised, platform. The RNC says that the body voted unanimously to forego the Convention Committee on Platform “in appreciation of the fact that it did not want a small contingent of delegates formulating a new platform without the breadth of perspectives within the ever-growing Republican movement.” The Platform Committee also unanimously reaffirmed their support for President Donald Trump and his “America-first agenda.” The attached document shows the resolution adopted by the party, and the subsequent 2016 platform the party reused for 2020. **Resolution_Platform_2020**
This article looks into the limits of the invisible party. One limit that this article mentions is that some politicians look like they are succeeding during the “invisible primary” but end up failing miserably when voters arrive. The article looks at Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani in 2008, and Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio in 2016. They raised large sums, generated support, and generated lots of media support during the invisible primary but never really stood a chance.
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/11/us/the-1992-campaign-iowa-harkin-dominates-state-s-caucuses.html
Another interesting note from the 1992 election cycle included major Democratic candidates ceding the Iowa caucuses to Iowa Senator Tom Harkin (who was the presumed frontrunner in the state, and ended up winning all 49 of Iowa’s pledged delegates). I would imagine this withdrawal from the Iowa caucuses was highly unusual for the time period. Considering that Iowa must conduct the first caucus of the primary season, according to its own state constitution, I wonder if public perception diluted the value placed on the Iowa caucus in this election cycle.
A chart of the 1992 Democratic primary election results can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Democratic_Party_presidential_primaries