Forgive me for not knowing this but enlighten me.
How many primaries are there?
If one candidate wins a majority of them, is he automatically the candidate?
Or is that not decided til the convention?
Please tell me. I know nothing of primaries.
There is a primary election or caucus in every state of the Union. They are party-based elections in which delegates to the party convention are assigned; I believe that most, if not all, states are winner-take-all. Thus, to win his party’s nomination, a candidate must win elections in a modest number of large states, and a handful of small states, or nearly all of the smaller states and a few large states. In any event, because of the winner-take-all elections, the convention is quite meaningless these days, as the winning candidate is clear months before.
Here’s a link that shows this years primary/caucus schedule:
AFAIK, there are no winner take all primaries/caucuses, although the delagate total within a state may not be very close to the exact candidate percentages. Last week in Iowa, there was a 15% rule by precinct, so if you showed up and wanted candidate “A”, your vote might have not counted unless you changed to another.
The Democrats select 3,520 from these and there are 802 super delagates that are officially uncommitted, mostly party officials, congressman etc.