The Long Winding Road to the White House: caucuses, primaries and national party conventions in the history of American presidential elections

Almost the Last Hurrah

At last we know officially. In late August at their 40th national convention in Tampa, Florida, the Republican party formally nominated its candidates to run for election as president and vice-president of the United States of America. Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts and son of a governor of Michigan (himself once a presidential hopeful), has been chosen to oppose President Barack Obama, triumphing after an initially bruising primary campaign - and needing to bind up the Republican party's wounds (to echo Abraham Lincoln, the first and for many the greatest Republican president).

From now until early November Romney and his running-mate Paul Ryan will be trying to unseat Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden, while the...