Political parties in the United States

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This list of political parties in the United States contains past and present political parties in the United States. Political parties are not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution; which defines a nonpartisan presidential system in which citizens vote for electors that make up the Electoral College. The Electoral College in turn elects the President and Vice President of the United States. Today the Electoral College votes for presidential candidates that represent their respective political parties.

Political parties are private organizations that manage themselves, organize primary elections for local, state, and federal offices, define common policy initiatives, and run campaign contribution drives for the benefit of their party candidates. No laws limit the number of political parties that may operate, so theoretically, it can operate as a simple multi-party system. However, since the Civil War (1864), the country has had a de facto two-party system, with occasional inlets made by third parties. There are and have been many political parties other than the two dominant ones (the Republican Party and the Democratic Party), but few have had political success.

Categorizing U.S. political parties

The political parties are listed in four categories below, "Current largest parties", "Other current national parties that have endorsed candidates", "Current regional parties that have endorsed candidates" and "Political parties in U.S. history".

An alternate means for categorizing U.S. political parties, historically and currently, is to apply the Federal Election Commission's definition of "national committees" retroactively in time to the beginning of the U.S. To see such a list, see Richard Winger's article in the Election Law Journal, April 2006 (Vol. 5 no. 2), which can be read on-line. Within that article, the list of parties is in Appendix A.

Year is when founded. Order of current parties is alphabetical.

Current largest parties

Each of these had ballot status for its presidential candidate in states with enough electoral votes for President of the United States to have had a chance of winning the 2004 presidential election--or has done likewise for the 2008 presidential election.

Other active national parties (that have endorsed candidates)

These parties have offered candidates in recent elections, but did not in 2004 (and do not for 2008) have ballot status in enough states to win the presidency normally. Some do not have presidential candidates, but for other offices only.

Other current national parties (that have endorsed candidates)

These parties want to organize nationally, but did not in 2004 (and do not for 2008) have ballot status in enough states to win the presidency normally. Some do not have presidential candidates, but for other offices only.

For more parties, including parties which have yet to endorse candidates, see at bottom (below): "See also", "Other lists", and "External links", such as "Directory of U.S. Political Parties".

Current regional parties (that have endorsed candidates)

Few, if any, of these parties have had (or have) presidential candidates. The years are when they were founded.

Political parties in U.S. history

Most of the following parties are no longer functioning. Some of them had considerable influence. In order of founding.

External links

Part of this article consists of modified text from Wikipedia, and the article is therefore licensed under GFDL.
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