Category Archives: Primary

1992 Iowa Caucus (Democratic Party)

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

Invisible Primary

“How to Understand the ‘Invisible Primary'”

This posts features various questions and answers with professor Hans Noel from Georgetown regarding information on the the Invisible Primary.

FiveTirtyEight.com – “Ignore What Potential 2024 Presidential Candidates Say. Watch What They Do.”

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/ignore-what-potential-2024-presidential-candidates-say-watch-what-they-do/

Although a single candidate has yet to declare they are running for president in 2024, and in fact quite a few have denied it, this article on FiveThirtyEight.com argues that some  potential presidential hopefuls are already engaged in activities fall in line with typical “invisible primary” patterns. They point to visits to the early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire by Gov. Kristi Noem and Sen. Tom Cotton as examples, as well as to speeches made at CPAC. Also among those to give speeches at CPAC were former Pres. Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Josh Hawley, Sen. Rick Scott, Gov. Ron DeSantis and former SoS Mike Pompeo. This can be a crucial chance for presidential hopefuls to boost their national profile. They also point to legislative actions after the 2020 election on the part of Hawley, Cruz and Scott seeking to distinguish themselves, gain media attention, and signal opposition to Biden and support for Trump, which remains popular amongst the republican base.

Super Tuesday

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/19/what-is-super-tuesday/?arc404=true

This article from the Washington Post highlights what Super Tuesday is and why it is extremely important for potential Presidential Candidates. For further information on Super Tuesday, especially how its use and importance has changed over the last 33 years, look to pages 86-89 in our textbook, Presidents and the American Presidency by Han & Heith.

CPAC – How It Works

CPAC stands for the Conservation Political Action Conference. This article highlights how it works and why it is important to Presidential Elections.

https://www.npr.org/2017/02/22/516535373/what-is-cpac-a-room-that-didnt-always-love-trump-but-owes-him-a-lot