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Шире контекст: The national presidential elections really consist of two separate campaigns:
one is for the nomination of candidates at national party conventions. The other is to
win the actual election. The nominating race is a competition between members of the
same party. They run in a succession of state primaries and caucuses (which take place
between March and June). They hope to gain a majority of delegate votes for their
national party conventions (in July or August). The party convention then votes to
select the party's official candidate for the presidency. Then follow several months of
presidential campaigns by the candidates. In November of the election year (years
divisible by four, e.g. 1988, 1992, 1996, etc.), the voters across the nation go to the
polls. If the majority of the popular votes in a state go to the Presidential (and Vice
Presidential) candidate of one party, then that person is supposed to get all of that
state's "electoral votes." These electoral votes are equal to the number of Senators
and Representatives each state has in Congress. The candidate with the largest
number of these electoral votes wins the election. Each state's electoral votes are
formally reported by the "Electoral College." In January of the following year, in a joint
session of Congress, the new President and Vice-President are officially announced.
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