Elephants in the room

AAAA Elephants in the room: How the Republican convention works From August 27-30, about 2,286 delegates and 2,125 "alternate" delegates from across the United States will gather in Tampa, Florida, to formally nominate the Republican Party's candidate for the 2012 presidential election. The event, with all its glitz and glamour, focuses on drumming up enthusiasm for the party's electoral ticket, with dozens of aggrandising speeches trumpeting the finer points of Republican policy, and demonising those of President Obama's Democratic Party. They will be joined by some 15,000 journalists and media operatives from around the globe, each attempting to scrutinise every nuance of this political spectacular, from before the curtain raises until after the red, white and blue balloons fall from the rafters at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. It is the world's biggest pep rally, leaving voters and party activists fired up in the hope of winning debates, from the water cooler to national TV, and winning votes when the US heads to the polls on November 6. The Delegate Race Ron Paul Newt Gingrich Rick Santorum Mitt Romney 1,575 138 Candidate: 177 245 Delegate count: Romney Data source: Associated Press 1,500 1,144 delegates needed to win nomination 1,000 500 Santorum Paul Gingrich June April May March January February Earlier this year, millions of people across the United States voted in state primaries and caucuses that help determine how many delegates each Republican presidential candidate will receive. Each state has ten "at-large" delegates, plus three delegates for each congressional district. In addition, states are awarded bonus delegates if they carried a majority for John McCain in 2008. States also receive one bonus delegate for each Republican senator, for having a Republican majority of members of Congress, for having a Republican governor, as well as others for holding majority Republican chambers of state legislature. Convention officials call on leaders of each state delegation in an alphabetical roll-call, from Alabama to Wyoming, to announce their delegate count in favour of a particular nominee. Some delegations - after some calculation of electoral mathematics - will "pass", to allow a certain state (often the home state of the presumptive nominee) to be the delegation that pushes the vote count beyond the necessary threshold, securing the nomination. This year, the threshold for nomination to the presidency by the Republican Party stands at 1,144 delegate votes. In what is known as a "brokered convention", horse trading and back-room deals continue until the last minute in order to secure the votes of delegates. This outcome - though exciting for political strategists - is usually reserved for television programmes and films, not reality, as delegates usually pledge their loyalty prior to arriving at the convention. Note: Two other candidates also won delegates: Jon Huntsman, Jr won two and Michele Bachmann won one. Mapping The Enthusiasm Mitt Romney will easily win the Republican Party's nomination this week. But hundreds of delegates are pledged to vote for his former rivals: Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, and Newt Gingrich. The map below shows each state delegation's enthusiasm for Romney. The redder the state, the higher percentage of delegates support him. WA VT ME MT ND NH MN OR NY MA ID WI SD RI CT MI WY PA IA NJ NE Он DE MD NV IL IN wV VA UT CO KS MO KY CA NC TN OK AZ AR NM GA MS AL TX LA HI Red intensity shows percentage of delegates voting for Romney 90% 100% 70% 80% 40% 50% 60% 10% 20% 30% 0% 172 155 95 69 72 76 45 46 32 58 55 49 52 43 41 46 42 29 43 26 40 40 28 25 28 27 20 19 24 17 12 ..Virginia (VA) P Virgin ington (WA) CAlabaa ma Te Color Wis eticut (CT SOuri apshire (NH) York (NY) sylvania (PA) (AKi (MS K (KS) Bar length shows total number of delegates for each state Who's Speaking? Aside from Romney and Ryan, about a dozen nationally prominent Republicans will also speak at the convention. The orators, many of whom were mentioned as possible vice-presidential picks, include: Rand Paul Condoleezza Rice Marco Rubio Chris Christie Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, the son of Republican candidate and congressman Ron Paul, is conservative but not conventionally so. Like his father, Paul takes libertarian stances on many issues he is sceptical of the federal war on drugs and US military interventions, Rice, secretary of state and national security adviser to former President George W Bush, was a strong The boyish Cuban-American The New Jersey governor will senator from Florida, whom some deliver the convention's keynote address. Christie is admired by describe as the "crown prince" of the conservative Tea Party advocate of the US invasion of Iraq, but a political moderate compared with many of the other featured speakers. She is currently a professor of political economy at Stanford. conservatives for his brashness and movement, was elected to office budget cuts, and reviled by many amid the Republican wave of 2010. Rubio is one of only two Hispanics currently serving in the Senate Democrats for the same reasons. and opposes the Patriot Act. Footing The Bill The two conventions will cost US taxpayers an estimated $136m this year. Congress allocated $100m for security costs for both events, and the Federal Election Commission provided about $18m to each major party to cover the costs of holding the conventions. After a steep rise from 1976-84, the amount of taxpayer subsidies given to cover convention costs (adjusted for inflation") has since remained roughly the same: $18,248,300 $17,899,230 $17.816.750 $17,855,780 $18,040,920 $18,053,800 S17.977.080 $18,100,310 $12,278,190 $8,785,680 2004 2008 2012 1992 1996 2000 1980 1984 1988 1976 * Figures shown have been adjusted to match the equivalent buying power in the US in 2012 Sources: The Delegate Race Associated Press - http://hosted.ap.org/interactives/2012/delegate-tracker/ Mapping The Enthusiasm The New York Times - http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/primaries/delegates The Green Papers - http://thegreenpapers.com Footing The Bill Federal Election Commission - http://www.fec.gov/press/20111108convtfunding.shtml http://www.fec.gov/press/press2012/20120808MatchingFunds_Johnson.shtml ALJAZEERA BY NO ND The Bureau of Labor Statistics (inflation adjustment) - http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm (AR) (CA) Calife (DE) ELI KY) Ma Ma (MA) (NJ (NM) akota ota (SD) Utan (01 oraska (NE) Island (RI) consin (WI) Carolina (NC) an (MI) ssee (TN) AL) (GA a (ND) n Carolina (SC) Maine (ME Minnesota (MN)