right so you want to be president of the
United States the leader of the Free
World someone who gets that lovely Oval
Office and your own bowling alley in the
basement of white house but wait how do
you actually make it to 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue how does the whole
process from dream to reality actually
work so if this music thing doesn't work
out you can always run for president
well this video is going to explain
every single step you need to take to
make it to the White House
okay you're starting out from scratch
and you're trying to get nominated by a
party not currently in the White House
how do you even know if you're in with a
shop for a start legally you have to
have been born in the United States
lived there for 14 years and be over 35
and if you don't tick all those boxes
sorry you can't be president so that's
me out for a start I'm under 35. so what
job exactly puts you in the best
position to run for the White House well
it helps if you've either been a lawyer
or you've served in the military in fact
all the people who've been president
only through them have not done one of
those two things but some have had some
more unusual jobs Ronald Reagan who was
a former Hollywood star Andrew Johnson
he was a tailor and Jimmy Carter he ran
a Peanut Farm but one thing that really
helps is having held some kind of
political office like nearly every
president has except of course
businessmen and reality star Donald
Trump
right your next big task is raising
money and lots of it Trump and his
backer spent about 73 million dollars on
getting the Republican nomination in
2016 including 50 million dollars of his
own cash and Democrat hopeful Bernie
Sanders raised nearly 35 million in the
final three months of 2019 mostly from
Grassroots donations I believe in
democracy not billionaires owning the
system our campaign is funded by the
working people of this country right so
you've got some cash in the bank and
you're now ready to launch a campaign
you're going to need to make sure you
start early Barack Obama announced his
candidacy in February 2007 nearly two
years before election day stand before
you today to announce
my candidacy for president of the United
States of America that's because at the
beginning of the election year your
party will hold votes in all 50 states
to decide who will be their candidate
these are the primaries state-by-state
mini elections now some have closed
primaries that means only registered
members of a party vote but some have
open primaries where any member of the
public even someone who's a registered
supporter of the opposing party can take
part and then others use caucuses now
they're basically big public meetings
where voters discuss their choices
openly and then they decide who they
want to support
now this is where it gets really
exciting because if you win in Iowa the
first caucus you can get momentum and go
on and win the whole thing that's what
happened for Jimmy Carter in 1976 he
came out of nowhere and won it all the
same two for Barack Obama in 2008. at
this defining moment in history
you
but remember winning Iowa doesn't always
mean you're going to win the whole thing
because the Republican person who won in
2008 2012 and 2016 did not go on to be
Republican nominee come February or
March you'll face one or more Super
Tuesdays when dozens of states are up
for grabs in a single day it's 12 States
over 1600 delegates could it all come
down to this one night it'll be huge and
then by the summer it will be pretty
clear which candidate is out in front
but it's not over yet there's another
important Milestone the National
Convention it's a party's celebrating a
popular president and a big lead in the
polls that's where your party officially
announces its nominee through delegates
from each state but wait what's a
deliber well their people chosen to
represent their stay at the convention
and they cast votes for the Presidential
nominee they make their decision based
on who won the primary or the caucus in
their state but we're remember just
because you won a caucus or a primary
doesn't mean you get all the delegates
from that state that's decided by each
state depending on their own specific
rules so let's imagine you secure an
overall majority of delegates at the
convention well congratulations you're
now the presidential candidate for your
party I humbly
and gratefully accept
your nomination for president of the
United States and the race for the White
House can really begin now if you
thought you'd spent loads of Dosh in the
primaries just wait to see how much
you're going to need for the rest of the
campaign in the final six weeks of the
2016 race Hillary Clinton and her back
has spent 360 million dollars that's
more than she spent in the first six
months of the year and she's still lost
so you have to make sure you've got deep
Deep Pockets and you better be good in
front of a camera too because there are
going to be three big TV debates coming
up now the first time a presidential
debate was held was back in 1960 when
John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon went
head to head in front of an audience of
66 million people the battle was
considered a defeat for Nixon who was
famously a bit sweaty under the lights
and he went on to narrowly lose the
election and the TV debates have given
us some memorable moments down the years
like Ronald Reagan's quip about age when
even his opponent chuckled you already
are the oldest president in history I I
will not make age an issue of this
campaign I am not going to exploit for
political purposes my opponent's Youth
and inexperience
and Donald Trump's strange body language
around Hillary Clinton if you have
serious health problems and uh number
three
the most important thing about the
debate is just to make sure that you
don't mess them up all that's left now
is polling day weirdly though you're not
trying to necessarily get the most votes
from the public your aim is actually to
win the most votes in the Electoral
College and here's how it works
whichever candidate gets a majority of
the 538 electors wins the white house so
the magic number is 270. but wait a
minute why 538 well each state is given
electors based on the number of people
it sends to Congress so California has
the highest population about 40 million
people and therefore they send the most
representatives to Washington along with
the two senators that every state gets
add that all up and California has 55
Electoral College votes the most in the
country on the other hand seven states
along with the District of Columbia only
get three Electoral College votes
because they have smaller populations
and therefore send fewer representatives
to Washington so here's the thing it's
not necessarily about winning the most
boats from the people it's actually
about winning the most of these electors
let's take Hillary Clinton's loss in
2016. she won nearly 3 million more
votes than Donald Trump across the
country but Donald Trump's votes were
concentrated in the right places where
the Electoral College numbers could get
him past that magic 270.
so take Michigan for example Trump only
won here by 0.23 so a 4.8 million votes
cast in that state he won by just 10 000
more but crucially he took all 16
Electoral College votes the same thing
happened in Pennsylvania six million
votes were cast Trump won by just 40 000
votes but again he took all 20 Electoral
College votes so there it is if you want
to be president all you need to do is
this have a good background being a
lawyer or a veteran helps a lot and make
sure you have some decent political
experience unless it will president
Trump of course then hit the ground
running and raise about a billion
dollars from the public probably big
business small donations didn't work and
maybe top it up with your own cash if
you happen to be so lucky then you're
gonna have to crisscross the whole
country shake hands and kiss babies in
those key early primary and caucus
States so that you can gain momentum
going into the convention and then
you've got to do it all over again
crisscross the country shake hands and
kiss babies as you gear up for the
November election and don't forget it's
not about the number of votes from the
public that you get it's where you get
them from Donald Trump has won the state
of Pennsylvania that is the race frankly
it's a focus on the Electoral College
and how you can get over that magic 270
to win and that's it you're in the White
House enjoy it for the first year or so
because your re-election Campaign Will
basically begin very very soon and you
have to do all that all over again