By RTÉ.ie journalist Fiona Hearst
With just under a year to go until the 44th president of the US is inaugurated in January 2009, it may seem that the process is never-ending.
The election will most likely grab the headlines for the next 12 months and the drawn-out process can be confusing. Take a look at our guide to help you through the complexities.
Requirements for office
In order to qualify as a possible candidate there are three basic requirements that must be met.
Firstly, the candidate must be a natural born US citizen. That rules California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger out, but it does not mean a person who was not born in the US cannot run for Congress or state government.
In fact, Madeleine Albright and Henry Kissinger, who both held positions of high power within previous Administrations, were not born in the US. This did mean that had the need arisen, they would not have qualified to stand-in for the president.
However, if any of these three politicians had a parent that was a US citizens, then Schwarzenegger, Albright or Kissinger could have qualified despite not having been born in the US.
The founding fathers instigated the rule because they did not want a president to hold loyalties to any other country other than the United States of America.
The other two requirements are not so complicated; a candidate must be at least 35 years old and have lived in the US for the last 14 years.
There are two other reasons why a person cannot be considered as a presidential candidate, these refer to those who have previously held office.
A president cannot hold office for more than two full terms (eight years), but they are eligible to be vice-president.
If however, they served as president or vice-president for less than six years they are eligible for election (22nd Amendment of the US constitution).
But no candidate can be considered if they have been removed from office for an impeachable offence (article one of the US constitution).
Exploratory Committee
As soon as someone decides they are interested in becoming US president they form an exploratory committee to find out if they should actually run for office.
However a person can test the waters without actually setting up an exploratory committee, which means they do not have to register as a candidate or file financial disclosure reports until candidacy is established.
Setting up an exploratory committee or testing the water will determine if they have a viable candidacy and an individual will then declare their intention to run for a party's nomination.
Caucuses/Primaries
After declaring their candidacy all the focus shifts to campaigning for caucuses or primaries held by the Democratic and Republican parties in each state. Each state has a varying number of delegates up for grabs. A delegate is a party member that will represent the state's members at the national convention where the presidential nominee is officially selected.
Some states hold a caucus as their means of deciding the winner of its delegates. A caucus is a meeting where party members come together to discuss the candidates and representatives, or the candidates themselves, speak to the group in order to win their vote. The vote itself is not on a ballot but is public. The candidate with the most votes wins the delegates.
Other states opt for primaries. The candidates will still campaign, but the vote is held as a ballot. The results of this will determine the winner of the delegates.
Some states only allow registered members of each party to vote in that party's caucus or primary but others allow undeclared or independent voters to take part too, which can lead to a big swing in favour of one candidate or another in the poll.
The first caucus has traditionally been held in the state of Iowa, but many states hold their vote on what is known as Super Tuesday. That is when a large proportion of delegates are decided. All caucuses/primaries must be completed before the party's conventions are held.
Conventions
It may well be clear before a party holds its convention who is going to be the presidential candidate, but the convention is still necessary to rubber-stamp the nomination.
The vice-presidential candidate is also chosen at the convention. If there is no clear winner after all the primaries and caucuses are completed, the convention becomes even more important because the party must choose its nominees at that point.
The Democratic Party convention is being held in Denver, Colorado from 24 to 28 August while the Republican National convention is 1 to 4 September in St Paul, Minnesota.
Presidential election campaign
After the two conventions the party's nominees have two full months to campaign nationwide for the presidency.
Election
The election is held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. This year it will happen on the 4 November.
In effect, the electorate is voting for a panel of electors that are representing the presidential candidates. Those members will then go on to meet and cast their vote for the president and vice-president.
Electoral College
Each state has a specific number of presidential electors. This is determined by the number of state senators, each state has two, plus an additional number that is based on the number of members in the House of Representatives, there are 435.
In total there are 538 votes available, which includes three votes designated to the District of Columbia.
The states with the least amount of people have a least three electoral college members and the most populate state, California, has 55.
Each state, plus the District of Columbia, holds a meeting of its electoral college in the state capitol buildings on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December (this year it will be on 15 December). The Electoral College does not convene nationally.
The electors in most states are bound to elect the party with more than half the votes or the party with the most votes.
But in Maine and Nebraska they use the District Method, which means voters can choose the electors of different parties and can therefore split the electoral vote in these states.
In order to win the presidency or vice-presidency a candidate needs to win 270 Electoral College votes.
The US Congress meets one month after the electoral college vote to formerly declare the election winner.
If at this meeting no candidate is found to have won at least 270 electoral college votes, the House of Representatives must then vote for the president-elect.
Representatives choose from the three candidates with the most electoral college votes. In this case each state has one vote and a winner is declared when a candidate receives 26 votes.
If no clear winner for vice-president-elect has been determined after the electoral college vote then the Senate will choose from the two candidates with the most electoral votes. In this case each senator gets a vote and a winner is declared by a majority.
If a president is not chosen by the inauguration then the vice-president-elect will become acting president until a president is selected by the House of Representatives. If the vice-president elect is not determined by the time of the inauguration then the Speaker of the House of Representatives would be the acting president until either a president or vice-president is selected.
Inauguration
The president is inaugurated into office in January. The next presidential inauguration will be held on 20 January 2009.
