Should I Run For President?

Have the past few weeks of presidential caucuses and primaries inspired you to someday become the President of the United States? It sure has inspired me. Barack Obama, and Hilary Clinton are presidential hopefuls who all have unique traits that make them different from any of the former 55 presidents. These past weeks have shown that the United States is ready for anyone as president. Any one can be president. But how can I do it? How can I run for president and win?
The first step to becoming president is checking if you are eligible. The U.S constitution states that you must be at least 35 years old and be a natural born citizen of the United States. The next step is signing a series of long complex forms on the Federal Election Commission website. At http://www.fec.gov/info/forms.shtml you can find the 13 forms needed to become a candidate for House, Senate and President. The website also has forms which you can register for a new political party.
Every former president of the United States has been a member of a political party. You must decide on which political party you want to join depending on the party that best suites your ideals and represents your political platform. Most of our elected officials are Democrats or Republicans. You can also be a third-party candidate, such as candidate for the Green Party. But, "People feel like voting for a third party is throwing away your vote." Independent candidates sometimes have different requirements for being placed on the ballot because they don’t have to go through preliminaries.
Every state and the District of Columbia has different requirements from the candidates. Some states do not have any difficult requirements at all. In Tennessee all you need is 25 votes and you’re in. In Colorado you need $500. In Kentucky 5,000 signatures are needed. In Virginia and South Carolina 10,000 signatures are needed. In New York it is a bit harder, at least 15,000 signatures of registered voters and at least 100 signatures the state’s 29 Congressional districts are needed. In Texas 74,000 registered voters are needed within 75 days and none of them can have voted in the last party primaries. In Oklahoma you must have 44,000 signatures which is about 3 percent of the votes that were cast in the last presidential election and the names must be collected by people from Oklahoma. In North Carolina a candidate needs to gather at least 107,000 signatures. To be in every state ballot about 650,000 signatures are needed nationwide. It is important to be in every state ballot because the electoral college.
The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, states that an Electoral College will elect the president. The electoral college has 538 President electors who cast their electoral votes for the president and vice president. Although the ballots from the 50 states and the District of Columbia list the names of the candidates, voters are actually choosing electors from their state when they vote. Every state has certain amount of electoral votes based on the state’s population. The electors vote for the president based on the popular vote from the state. If a candidate receives a majority of 270 they win the election.
Winning a presidential election involves a lot of money and support from voters. Getting 650,000 signatures is not easy to obtain by oneself so a candidate needs many volunteers to help. People who search for signatures are usually paid about $2 for every signature they collect. At least $1.3 million is spent on getting signatures. More signatures then required are usually obtained because about one-quarter of signatures are eventually thrown out as invalid. A lot of money is needed to pay lawyers to protect your signatures from other political opponents who claim them invalid.
A lot of money is needed to become president. In January 2007, Federal Election Commission Chairman Michael Toner said to be "taken seriously," a candidate will need to raise at least $100 million by the end of 2007. In the first three months of 2007 Clinton, Obama, and Romney raised over $20 million. Edwards, Giuliani, and McCain, raised over $12 million. Fundraising is important for candidates because they give the voter the chance to learn more about the candidate. To become president you need votes from the youth and Youtube, Myspace, and Facebook have been used. The candidates try to get as much media time as possible to reach more voters. With enough media will can get enough support from voters to win the election.
Any American can be a president with enough support and money. The current presidential candidates have shown that America is ready for a new kind of leader. With their differences from the previous presidents it has shown that anyone can be president, even YOU!
But the truth is that it takes a millionare to win. The funding for a campaign is ridiculous and getting your name known to the voters is not easy for the average man.