Writing Two

How to run for president

If you want to become President of the United States, there are a few steps you have to take. There not going to let you do all the important things a President has to do without the right amount of qualifications. The President gets to decide where our nation’s money goes, and helps us become allies with other nations. I went to http://www.fec.gov/ to find out just what you need to do to become President of the United States. To start out it is actually easier than I thought. You have to register, round up a campaign team, and then actually start your campaign.

There are rules to become President, just as their rules for pretty much everything else. You must be at least thirty-five years old to become president (The youngest President we’ve had was John F. Kennedy who was elected when he was 43). The reason this is the age requirement is because they want you have experience with politics and be fully mature. Another reason for this could be because these rules were written when our nation first started by older white men, and they wanted the country to be run by other older white men later down the road. It is found in the Constitution of the United States, Article II, Section 1, Clause 5: No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

At http://www.fec.gov/ it explains the steps it takes to register. You register once you or someone working for you receives contributions exceeding $5,000. Within fifteen days of that time you must file a statement of candidacy. This is the fec form 2 (the FEC form is the papers you fill out to register) , which authorizes a principal campaign committee to raise and spend funds on your behalf. Within the next ten days your campaign committee must submit a statement of organization (fec form 1). After that your campaign team will report its receipts and disbursements on a regular basis.

Once you announce your plan to run for office your campaign begins. At http://www.factmonster.com/ I found how you run a campaign. The first thing you have to have is a nomination campaign. This is where you square off against other candidates in your same party to get support, and to get that party’s nomination. You have to try winning over delegates and other people who will support you and try to convince people to vote for you. After this you square off against the candidate’s in the other party in debates to win the votes of the people. You will give speeches and be involved in debates. At these debates you argue about your beliefs against your opponents, things like whether you’re pro choice for abortion, or if you support gay marriage. Your campaign team advertises for you, and lets the country know all the great things you’ve done and what you believe in. Most of the time they criticize thier opponents, and tell everyone the terrible things they have done like drugs or illegitimate children and such.

Finally on Election Day the country votes and if you win you get the oval office. Once you win the election you get inaugurated (a ceremony to where you’re put into office) on January 20, of the next year. On that day you take the presidential oath "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States". Then finally at that moment you are officially President of the United States.