An exploratory committee is an organization established to help determine whether a potential candidate should run for an elected office. They allow a potential candidate the ability to raise money. This money can be used to establish offices, hire political consultants, travel, conduct polling and pay for other related activities (Source).

Excessive amounts of money cannot be raised and money cannot be used to publicize a potential candidates future run. Those who established the committee cannot call themselves candidates for office. (Source)

Because of these limitations exploratory committees do not exist for very long. They are often used to assess the viability of a full run for office. During this time potential candidates look at polling information, assess their strengths and weaknesses with consultants and judge their ability to raise money before announcing their decision.

In a December 11th 2006 article in the Washington Post Zachary A. Goldfarb looked into the topic of exploratory committee's and the resent popularity for potential candidates. The article concluded that since the FEC does not distinquish between these committees and presidential committees they are often formed simply for publicity "You get two press releases, one when you form the exploratory committee, and one when you say you're actually running," said Kenneth A. Gross, a lawyer specializing in politics and elections.

"A primary election is an election in which registered voters in a jurisdiction select the candidates who will enter a subsequent election (nominating primary). Primaries are common in the United States, but are generally rare elsewhere in the world. Generally, primaries are used to select one candidate on each political party but may also be non-partisan, such as in a run-off primary." (Source: Wikipedia Retrieved 11/27/06)

"Establishing the date for a Presidential primary, and determining the type of Presidential primary held, varies from state to state. This is due to differences in state statutes, party constitutions, party rules and regulations, party by-laws, and delegate selection plans. In some states, a caucus and/or convention may be held instead of a Presidential primary election. Other states may use a combination of both caucuses and primaries for delegate selection." (Source:Federal Election Commission Retrieved 11/27/06)

Different types of primaries include some of the following:

• Open: Voters may vote in primaries of a party of their choice, the choice to be made at the voting booth. When voters do not pre-register for a party, this is called the pick-a-party primary because the voter can select which party he wishes to vote in on election day. In other open primary states, voters pre-register their party preference but the information is only used by parties for mailing lists and is non-binding.
• Semi-open: Voters may vote in the primary of the party of their choice, but they must publicly declare which primary they will vote in before entering the voting booth (typically this is accomplished by requesting a ballot). In many states with semi-open primaries, election officials record each voter's choice of party on Election Day and the parties are given access to this information.
• Closed: Voters may only vote in a primary if they are registered members of that party.
• Semi-closed: Voters registered with a party may only vote in the primary of their party. Those declining to register with a party may choose which primary to vote in at the voting booth. For example, in West Virginia, Republican primaries are open to independents, but Democratic primaries are closed.
• Blanket: No longer in use, allowed voters to vote for one candidate per office, regardless of which party they are a member of.
• Run-off: If no candidate receives a majority (50%) the top two candidates may face off in a run-off election. The word "run-off" can refer to either the system using a run-off election, or to the subsequential second election itself.