United States Presidential Election, 2012 (You Are Here)

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 America's people will elect the President. This will be the fourth election since the abolishment of the Electoral College and the institution of the House of Electors in 1999. Incumbent President Barack Obama is running for a second and final term during this election.

As specified in the Constitution, the 2012 presidential election will coincide with the United States Senate elections where one-third of the Senators will face re-election (33 Class I seats), and the United States House of Representatives elections (which occurs every two years) to elect the members for the 113th Congress. Seventeen gubernatorial elections and many elections for state legislatures will also take place at the same time.

Background
In 2008, Barack Obama defeated Republican Newt Gingrich and Conservative John McCain in the presidential election, while the Democrats had net gains in both chambers of the U.S. Congress, maintaining their majorities. The major theme during the 2008 campaign was the American public's general desire of change and reform from both Washington and the policies of outgoing Republican President George W. Bush, who was term limited out of office.

The Democrats fared just as well in the 2010 midterm elections, with the Republicans and Conservatives suffering major defeats in many national and state level elections, with many seats switching to Democratic control.

Nomination Process
Each major party hosts candidates who go through a nomination process to determine the presidential nominee for that party. The nomination process consists of primaries and caucuses, held by the states and the territories. The winner of each of these primary elections usually receives delegates proportional to the percentage of the popular vote that candidate received in each states. In many Republican primaries, all the state's delegates are awarded to the winning candidate. In the Democratic Party, high-ranking party members known as superdelegates each receive one vote in the convention. Whichever candidate has the majority of the delegates at the end of the primary elections is designated the presumptive nominee until he or she is formally nominated and endorsed for the presidency by his or her political party. This is done by the aforementioned delegates for each party at their respective party's national convention.

Party Conventions



 * Democratic Convention 2012: New York, New York: To Be Held August 18 to 23, 2012
 * Republican Convention 2012: Cincinnati, Ohio: To Be Held August 1 to 5, 2012
 * Progressive Convention 2012: Seattle, Washington: To Be Held August 6 to 11, 2012
 * Conservative Convention 2012: Vancouver, Columbia: Held March 14 to 16, 2012
 * Bloc Québécois Convention 2012: Montreal, East Quebec: To Be Held August 12 to 17, 2012

Candidates
All the major parties have several candidates, with the exception of the Democratic Party, which has narrowed down due the high likelihood of President Obama being reelected.

Obama Campaign
The President's campaign is significantly smaller than that of Kennedy's, although Obama is doing better than Kennedy, although only by a little bit. Vice President Ralph Nader is moving for renomination as Vice President under Obama.

The President officially announced his re-election campaign on March 21, 2012.

Kennedy Campaign
Kennedy's campaign started in January of 2011, officially announcing his candidacy on February 3, 2012 while giving a speech in Toronto, Erie outisde the TN Tower.

Kennedy has poured a great deal of money into his campaign, especially after the famous question posed to him on the Jay Leno show in an episode in December 2011: "Do you really think you can win against the President?" was the question sent in from a Republican Party member. His response was "With the help of America."

Kennedy's slogan, "Did you really live with only two Kennedys?" is very popular, representing the former Presidencies of his father and uncle. Former Senator Joseph Biden of Pennsylvania has endorsed Kennedy, after being asked to run for President himself.

New York Democratic Split
New York is heavily divided between the two. Obama, the incumbent President is a New York favorite, although only mostly in the upper counties and the western counties. The Senator is a favorite of New York, especially in New York City. The residents of Brooklyn, Staten Island, and the Bronx mostly favor Obama, while the more populated areas of Manhattan and Queens favor Kennedy.

Republican Party
The Republican Party had six major candidates in 2011: Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Marco Rubio, Rick Santorum, and Jon Hunstman, Jr.

Gingrich dropped out in February of 2011, due to his failure in 2008, while Paul dropped out in the same month due to his age and his leg problem, which will need a surgery.

Huntsman quit the race in March of 2012, throwing all his support behind Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party.

Rubio Campaign
Rubio announced his candidacy in Early 2011.

He has won several Far South states and all the Caribbean States. His many wins include his home state of Cuba, Florida, St. Dominique, Puerto Rico, Veracruz, Belize, Honduras, Yucatan, Sonora, Chihuahua, and Ron Paul's home state of Nuevo Leon.

Romney Campaign
Mitt Romney has made the largest wins out of all the Republicans, his states being: Wisconsin, Superior, Michigan, Ontario, Maryland, Quebec, Oregon, Vancouver, Columbia, Erie, Washington, Ohio, Texas, Baja California, Newfoundland, Iceland, Greenland Territory, Guam, Samoa, and Pennsylvania.

Santorum Campaign
Rick Santorum is a strong, laboring competitor. He has won almost as much as Romney, taking his home state of Franklin, Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

Northern Canadian Conservative Party
Former Governor of Erie Stephen Harper was the only Conservative nominee this year who actually campaigned. Senator John McCain of Saskatchewan planned to run for President, but never did any actual campaigning, resulting in Harper winning.

Harper Campaign
Harper campaigned since the 2010 Midterm Elections. Ever since his victory in the 2004 Gubernatorial Election, he has stated that he intends to run for President.

After his victory in the Conservative Convention, he resigned his office of governor and gave it to his Lieutenant. He has started the campaign for President, starting with Vancouver saying: "Vote Conservative. Let the Northern people take America. Bring back glory to what was once Canada, which had the potential to become a country."'

Because the Conservative Party does not campaign outside of the Northern states, colloquially known as "Canada," after the Former Upper and Lower Canada, Harper is expected to lose again, like McCain, Pawlenty, and the other Conservatives before him.

Bloc Québécois
The Quebecois Seperatist Party-Bloc is a party than only resides in Quebec, East Quebec, and all the states carved from the Former Quebec Territory, which had bits and pices admitted as states from 1906 to 1942.

Governor Duchesne has campaigned in Quebec, East Quebec, Erie, and Hamilton. He is expected to win the nomination unless someone else rises up against him.