IN THE KNOW

GETTING nominated as the presidential candidate of either the Democratic or Republican party in the United States involves months of campaigning that basically revolves around primaries and caucuses.

Primaries and caucuses are the means of selecting delegates to send to the party’s national convention to finally select who their presidential candidate will be.

In a primary, people show up at a neighborhood polling place to vote for the candidate they want to be their party’s presidential candidate.

In a caucus, political party members get together in someone’s home or a town hall rather than a voting booth to discuss and decide their slate of candidates for the upcoming general election.

Iowa, which holds the first caucuses, and New Hampshire, which holds the first primary, kick off these political exercises.

A series of caucuses and primaries follow, and on Super Tuesday, which falls on March 1 this year, the greatest number of states hold their primary elections to select delegates to the national convention of the two main political parties. Inquirer Research

Sources: Inquirer Archives, cnn.com