Summarize the following:
Presidential campaigns are expensive. According to the final federal finance report, the campaign cost of the 2012 presidential election tallied out at around $2,000,000,000. So if you can get anywhere near half of that, you're set. Diversify fundraising strategies. You can rely on a political party if you are the chosen candidate of that party. If you face other party members in a primary or you do not belong to a major party (that above figure being why most join one of the two major parties), you will need to raise money from other sources. Raise money from large donors as well as small. In 2012, presidential candidates were attending events that cost donors $1,000 a ticket and appealing for $3 donations online. To become president, you will need to shake hands, attend small town events and visit factories, veterans, churches, farms and businesses. You'll need to put away those diamond cufflinks of yours and roll up your khakis. Al Gore said he invented the Internet. John Edwards had an affair. Mitt Romney said half of US voters don't pay taxes. That's just three things Americans don't like. Wherever you are -- whether you think you're being recorded or not -- be on your best behavior. The public doesn't easily forget these things. Each state has a different way of choosing a president -- a caucus, a primary, or some combination of the two. Winning those grants you delegates that choose you to be on the presidential ticket, celebrated at the party's national convention that year. Every state is a bit different, and the party themselves are different as well. Republicans have "pledged" and "un-pledged" delegates; Democrats have "pledged delegates" and "super delegates." Some are a winner-take-all system, while others give you a percentage of delegates to match the percentage of votes you received. Once you emerge as the strongest candidate in your political party, you will hold a convention where all the delegates will pledge their support for your candidacy. It used to be that the convention was actually where the delegates voted, but now there's media coverage where everyone already knows who won, so it's a bit more symbolic. Either way, it's a party in your name. It's one day where each party prefers to concentrate on how awesome they are instead of how terrible the other is. So enjoy the short-lived positivity! This is also where you will declare your running mate. This is pretty big -- if people don't approve of your choice, you could lose votes. So think it through! This is a narrow field that often pits two major candidates against each other, one from the Republican Party and one from the Democratic Party. It's about to get real. Enter the race as a third party if you do not have the backing of a major party, but still want to be president. Other parties that support presidential candidates include the Green Party, Natural Law Party and Libertarian Party. Presidential candidates have also run as Independents. You'll be flying from San Francisco to Chicago to New York City in one day. You'll be exhausted and running on fumes and adrenaline. You'll be shaking hands, smiling, and making speeches like you're some sort of unstoppable robot. And maybe you are! The campaign is generally broken down into three parts: grassroots, on the ground and in the air. Grassroots is what you've already done -- put down your roots, gotten stable; on the ground is what you're doing now -- almost literally hitting the ground (from coast to coast) running; then you'll go in the air -- media frenzy after media frenzy.
Raise money. Appeal to average Americans. Win primary elections, caucuses and delegates. Attend your party's convention. Run in the general election. Campaign, campaign, campaign.