The “road to the White House” is long, expensive, and grueling. It begins with planning and early fundraising, a sort of invisible primary stage, and develops into more active campaigning during the presidential primary—where primaries may be open or closed —and the party caucus phase, a period considerably shortened these days due to the practice of front-loading. Candidates want to be perceived to have momentum in the race, but being considered the front-runner has both advantages and disadvantages. Each party’s choice of a candidate is announced officially at the party conventions, and the general election campaign is launched after Labor Day.

The general election campaign is shaped by the battle for large states with significant votes in the Electoral College (402) and the quest to find and convert swing voters. Professional staff run the campaign—coordinating activities, engaging in oppo research, managing the media and running ads, including negative advertising. An essential part of campaign strategy is the consideration of issues—valence issues on which most candidates agree; position issues on which they differ; wedge issues, which can be used against the other side; and issue ownership, which can give one party or the other an edge. Raising and spending money is also a key part of campaigns. Campaign money can be in the form of government matching funds given to candidates of the major parties and to candidates of the minor parties who performed well in the previous election, hard money donations collected by the candidates, or soft money collected by parties and interest groups. Soft money, used for get-out-the-vote efforts and the funding of issue advocacy ads, was supposed to be regulated by campaign finance legislation in 2002, but loopholes have allowed it to flourish in a different form. All this campaign activity is geared toward winning the election, so the victorious candidate can claim an electoral mandate.