Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 18, 1992 TAG: 9202180287
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: NF-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WENDI GIBSON NEWSFUN WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
THEY'RE OFF AND RUNNING
WOULD you run for president of the United States? "No way, Jose," says Sean Elledge of Wytheville.Elledge is not alone. Many of you said you would not run for our nation's highest elected office - that the responsibility would be too much and that you feared people would be angry at you. Some of you were afraid of being shot and assassinated, like four of our past presidents.
But roughly the same number of you said you'd like to be president - that it would make you famous, rich and powerful.
Being the U.S. president would make you rich, about $200,000 a year richer, and it would give you a direct route for solving many of our country's problems.
"I would like to be president so I could help all the poor people that did not have clothes, food and shelter. I would also . . . stop letting people litter," says Rocky Gap's Jamie Johnston.
Those of you with presidential aspirations also said you would give more money to education so your teachers could get raises and that you would provide everyone with health care.
Interestingly, these are the same issues we are hearing today from the serious presidential hopefuls - the ones who are really running for president.
Today these candidates, mostly members of our country's two main political parties, Republican and Democrat, are represented on ballots in New Hampshire's presidential primary. A primary is a state election where people vote for delegates to a party convention.
The Republicans and Democrats will meet and choose delegates in many state primaries before the presidential election Nov. 3. The delegates chosen usually represent certain candidates and promise to vote for that candidate at their party's national convention this summer if elected.
The New Hampshire primary gets much attention because it is the first of the election year. Candidates who do well in New Hampshire gather momentum, which boosts them into the national spotlight and enables them to raise more money for their campaigns. Those who do not do well often drop out of the race.
If you were a candidate, you would want as many delegates as possible to represent you and be elected at the primary. When they go to the national convention, the delegates will vote for the candidate they represent. The candidate with the most votes gets the party's nomination for president.
After the national conventions, the race for president officially begins.
The candidates battle it out by campaigning against each other. You see most of this campaigning in newspaper and TV advertisements. Buttons and bumper stickers are part of a campaign, too. They remind people to vote for the candidate when they go to the polls.
In November, registered voters in the United States will cast their ballots for the candidate of their choice.
What they really are doing is voting for a group of people who represent their presidential pick. These people are known collectively as the electoral college. In effect, they are like the delegates chosen in the state primaries.
Once the electoral vote is counted on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December - more than a month after the popular election - a president is officially elected.
So, you still want to run for president?
The campaign process is grueling. You must meet as many people as possible to win their votes, and you need a lot of money and powerful people to support you.
One thing's for sure: Your name would be known by all the world leaders, not to mention by most every American.
Jared Tisher of Wytheville needs no further prodding: "I would love to be president. So then I could be famous."