United States presidential election of 2012 (SIADD)

The United States presidential election of 2012 is the next United States presidential election, to be held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. It will be the 57th quadrennial presidential election in which presidential electors, who will actually elect the President and the Vice President of the United States on December 17, 2012, will be chosen. Incumbent President John McCain is running for a second and final term during this election. His presumptive Democratic and major party challenger is former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. Two other candidates have attained ballot access sufficient enough to mathematically win the election by a majority of the electoral college: Libertarian Party nominee, Gary Johnson, and Green Party nominee Jill Stein.

The 2012 presidential election will coincide with the United States Senate elections where 33 races will be occurring as well as the United States House of Representatives elections to elect the members for the 113th Congress. The election will also encompass eleven gubernatorial races as well as many state legislature races.

Electoral College changes
The 2010 Census changed the Electoral College vote apportionment for the Presidential elections from 2012 to 2020 in the following states.

States in blue represent states that gained votes, due to reapportionment based on the 2010 Census. States in orange represent states that lost votes. In the political climate of 2011, this would give the Democratic Party a net loss of six electoral votes in states won by Al Gore, John Kerry and Barack Obama in the past three presidential elections, rendering the party a national total of 242. Conversely, the Republican Party will achieve a net gain of six electoral votes in states won by George W. Bush and John McCain in the past three presidential elections, rendering the GOP a national total of 181. Votes allocated to remaining states remain unchanged from the national total of 115.

States won by Democrats in 2000, 2004, and 2008
 * Illinois – 1 fewer vote
 * Massachusetts – 1 fewer vote
 * Michigan – 1 fewer vote
 * New Jersey – 1 fewer vote
 * New York – 2 fewer votes
 * Pennsylvania – 1 fewer vote
 * Washington – 1 more vote

States won by Republicans in 2000, 2004, and 2008
 * Arizona – 1 more vote
 * Georgia – 1 more vote
 * Louisiana – 1 fewer vote
 * Missouri – 1 fewer vote
 * South Carolina – 1 more vote
 * Texas – 4 more votes
 * Utah – 1 more vote

Remaining states
 * Florida – 2 more votes
 * Iowa – 1 fewer vote
 * Nevada – 1 more vote
 * Ohio – 2 fewer votes

Nominations
The following are individuals who have either formally announced that they are running for president in 2012 and/or have filed as a candidate with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), or have formed an exploratory committee for a possible presidential run in 2012.

Candidates

 * See also: John McCain presidential campaign, 2012

With an incumbent president running for reelection against token opposition, the race for the Republican nomination was largely uneventful.

Being 76 years old, McCain was the oldest president to have ever served (Reagan was 73 when he got re-elected in 1984), and there were some questions about his capacity to endure the grueling demands of the presidency. McCain, however, refused all rumours of retirement, and Republican establishment, albeit some of them disagreeing with McCain's more moderate platform, denied any interest in contesting him. With approval ratings above 50%, Republicans have stated that contesting McCain would split the party and give the play to the Democrats.

On April 20, 2011, McCain announced his re-election campaign for 2012 at a White House press conference. He filed election papers with the Federal Election Commission on the same day.

Most opposition has come from isolationist Republicans like Ron Paul, who voiced their opposition to McCain's foreign policy, especially on his decision to increase troop numbers in Afghanistan, initiation of operations in Yemen and the intervention in Libya. Ron Paul followed on May 13, announcing formally that he would campaign for the Republican presidential nomination on a non-interventionist and libertarian platform.

Albeit agreeing to two debates, thus giving the primaries some life, McCain quickly cemented his status as the Republican presumptive nominee on April 3, 2012 by securing the minimum number of pledged delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

Democratic Party nomination

 * See also: Democratic Party presidential primaries of 2012 and Nationwide opinion polling for the United States presidential election of 2012