Campaign Strategy
            
             As you have already know, the president is not chosen by the people directly like most all other political offices are. The president is chosen by a group of 538 electors from all fifty states and the District of Columbia who cast their votes for president. The candidate who receives 270 votes becomes president. Electors are given to each state based on the population. The more people the more electors.
             In theory electors from each state vote for the candidate who the people from there state voted for. Even if the candidate wins the state by just one vote, all electoral votes go to that person.
             Candidates have in recent times started campaigning three to four years in advance for a presidential election. Campaigns are heavily influenced by the media and candidates try to get their names and views shown to everyone. A candidate knows that everything about his life is going to be found out by the media. The candidate must have no skeletons in the closet.
             Because electoral votes decide the winner, presidential elections are really 51 separate contests for the electoral votes of each state and the District of Columbia. Presidential candidates, then, must devise strategies and allocate resources across the states to produce a majority in the Electoral College. A candidate knows he has some states that are a given victory, usually his home state and the majority of the states that are heavily his party. The candidates know that Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Minnesota, and Hawaii are all very strong democratic states. The candidates know that Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Virginia, Alabama, Arizona, Utah, Montana, and Alaska are all very strong republican states. The other party must campaign hard in the other states if it wants any chance to steal it. Some states a president knows he can't win and he will tour those states much less. The south states and many of the rural states strong...