ok I will try to make this short.
The primaries and caucuses in an election years start in January and go until June. Each party gets one primary or caucus per state and assigns a number of delegates for each state. In a primary, Americans formally vote for their candidate and those with the most votes receive the most delegates. Exactly how and how many is determined by the party and the state. A caucus is less formal. The BEST way to explain it is in this video: http://www.whytuesday.org/2007/10/23/iow...
The delegates all attend the national party convention at the end of summer/beginning of fall and formally cast their votes for the candidates they already pledged their vote to. Candidates often drop out as the primaries go on if they feel they are not going to win. The delegates awarded to them then have to vote for someone else at the convention.
If there are 10 candidates still left standing at the end of the primaries then they all go to the convention, however the primaries usually whittle down the choices to a few. Every party gets only ONE nominee for the general election.
To see the more detailed answer go here: http://www.declareyourself.com/voting_fa...
www.DeclareYourself.com
www.WhyTuesday.org
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