Recruitment comes before nomination. Party leaders and activists identify people with experience, community ties, fundraising ability, or a compelling public profile and encourage them to run. Nomination then selects the party's official candidate through a primary, caucus, convention, or another lawful procedure. Because American nominations are decentralized and candidate centered, party organizations influence the field but do not always control the winner.

Campaign mobilization converts preference into participation. Parties register voters, provide information, contact supporters, coordinate volunteers, and turn people out. Targeted contact matters because a favorable citizen who stays home contributes no vote. Platforms state the party's general program and help candidates, activists, and voters understand its coalition. A platform is politically meaningful but is not an enforceable contract that every officeholder must follow line by line.

Parties simplify choice through labels and cues, then organize officials after the election. A familiar party label gives a voter a rough forecast of a candidate's coalition and likely priorities when complete information is costly. An interest group may endorse and lobby, but its main goal is policy influence; a party nominates a broad slate, contests elections, and seeks control of government. Recruitment identifies who might run; nomination chooses the party's candidate; mobilization brings supporters to the polls; governing organization coordinates officials after victory.

Video lesson: Political Parties: Crash Course Government and Politics #40