Last update: February 7th 2008
The 2008 election takes place on November 4th 2008 when Americans will choose their next president. He – or she – will become the most powerful person in the world, so it will affect everyone.
Here are the top candidates from the two main parties as of February 7th 2008 according to Gallup:
Democrats (left of centre)
- Hillary Clinton – senator from New York and wife of Bill Clinton, president during the 1990s.
- Barack Obama – first-term senator from Illinois. He is young and black, but he is honest, charming and brave – and knows how to give a good speech.
Republicans (right of centre)
- John McCain – a senator from Arizona. Was a prisoner of war during the Vietnam war. Prides himself on his straight talk.
- Mike Huckabee – former governor of Arkansas. Favoured by the Christian right.
By February 7th Rudy Giuliani, John Edwards, Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney had dropped out.
In the summer the parties hold their conventions. That is when they choose who they want to run in November. The candidate who arrives at the convention with the most delegates will win.
But how do you get delegates? By winning votes in the state primary elections and caucuses. They take place from January to June. Each state has its own rules, but roughly speaking you get one delegate for every 7,000 people who vote for you.
The primaries and caucuses, state by state:
- January
- 3rd: Iowa
- 5th: Wyoming (R)
- 8th: New Hampshire
- 15th: Michigan
- 19th: South Carolina (R), Nevada
- 26th: South Carolina (D)
- 29th: Florida
- February
- 5th: California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Missouri, Minnesota, Arizona, Colorado, Alabama, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Kansas (D), Arkansas, Utah, West Virginia (R), New Mexico (D), Idaho (D), North Dakota, Delaware, Alaska
- 9th: Lousiana, Kansas (R), Nebraska (D)
- 10th: Maine (D)
- 12th: Virginia, Maryland, DC
- 19th: Washington, Wisconsin, Hawaii (D)
- March:
- 4th: Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont
- 8th: Wyoming (D)
- 11th: Mississippi
- April:
- 22nd: Pennsylvania
- May:
- 6th: North Carolina, Indiana
- 13th: West Virginia (D), Nebraska
- 20th: Kentucky, Oregon
- 27th: Idaho (R)
- June
- 3rd: New Mexico (R), South Dakota, Montana
Behind the scenes each candidate is madly trying to raise as much money as possible. Most of this money goes to pay for ads on television, the only way to reach huge numbers of voters.
Where and when the conventions will be:
- August 25th to 28th: Democratic Convention in Denver
- September 1st to 4th: Republican Convention in Minneapolis
At the convention the winner picks his vice president. In September and October the two candidates go head to head. Then on the first Tuesday in November Americans vote for president.
See also:
- The latest Gallup polls
- I am for Barack Obama
- The candidates:
- Democrat
- Hillary Clinton
- Barack Obama
- vice president pick: Joe Biden
- John Edwards
- Republican
- Rudy Giuliani
- Mike Huckabee
- Mitt Romney
- John McCain
- vice president pick: Sarah Palin
- Democrat
- America
- democracy
- Jennifer Smith
I beg to differ. Fred Thompson certainly has more political experience than that Terminator / Lurch wannabe in California.
To wit:
Fred Dalton Thompson (born Freddie Dalton Thompson[1][2] on August 19, 1942) is an American politician, lawyer, lobbyist and character actor. He represented Tennessee as a Republican in the U.S. Senate from 1994 through 2002 and is a candidate for the 2008 Republican nomination for President of the United States.
Thompson is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Visiting Fellow with the American Enterprise Institute, specializing in national security and intelligence.
Do some research next time before making such erroneous statements that can easily be proven.
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My humble apologies, to you and to Mr Thompson and all his supporters. I have corrected what I wrote.
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