U.S. Congres Coursework

Party nominations systems: U.S. Congress
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Pre-primary conventions
These conventions are used in the two party states, where party conventions are held before the primary to endorse candidates. The main advantage of system is that, candidates are aware if they will appear on the primary ballot papers before the actual primary begins. This also reduces the number of potential candidates focusing on the strongest who are likely to win an election. However, the system can be deceptive as the pre -primary conventions chosen candidate is not guaranteed to win the primary.
Challenge Primary
For the challenge primary system, convention nominees become the party nominee unless challenged in a primary following the convention. The main benefit of this system is that the convention’s nominee becomes the outright primary candidate unless challenged by defeated candidates in the nomination process. The main drawback to this is that the chosen candidate will typically be an insider, and the convention may fail to understand the political mood when there is a need for change.
Closed primary
The question of who should vote in a primary is related to the role that political parties play in the electoral process. A closed primary is when voters affiliated to party participate in the primary, unlike an open primary where a voter can participate in either of the party’s ballot. Closed primaries allow parties to play a more prominent role in the nomination process, as this allows supporters to influence party outcome based on the candidates’ views and similarities with the voters. Candidates with an ideology that is more supportive of either the liberal or conservative viewpoints are likely to receive more money from Political Action Committees (PACs). Nonetheless, since the voters are easy to identify candidates typically focus on similar messages that are more partisan and likely to be far from the center of the political spectrum, meaning that it may be harder to win general elections especially in swing states.
Bibliography
Franz, Michael. Choices and Changes: Interest Groups in the Electoral Process, Temple University Press, 2008.
Janda, Kenneth, Jeffrey M. Berry, Jerry Goldman, and Kevin W. Hula. The challenge of democracy: American government in a gobal world. Boston: Wadswo...