Will the Republican nominee be Mitt Romney? Heâ??s one of several Republicans competing for the job. (Stephan Savoia / AP)

Primary Importance

Use logic lines to find out when each state will help pick the 2012 presidential candidates

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Hello! My name is Natalie Smith. I am a writer for Scholastic News. That’s a news magazine for students like you. I write about many world events—like this year’s U.S. presidential election!

Election Day will be on November 6. However, candidates are already going around the country trying to get votes. Why? To run in the presidential election, a candidate must first do well in smaller elections in each state. These elections are called caucuses and primaries.

The two biggest political parties in the U.S. are the Democrats and the Republicans. One candidate from each party will run in the November election. President Obama will almost certainly be the Democrats’ candidate. Republicans will vote for their choice of candidate in the state elections.

Different states are holding their elections from now until June. Each party will announce its candidate this summer. In the meantime, use logic lines to find out when states plan to hold their primary and caucus elections.

For more election news, plus maps, games, and videos, go to www.scholastic.com/election.

This article originally appeared in the January 2012 edition of DynaMath. For more from DynaMath, click here.

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WHAT TO DO: In this skills sheet, use the clues to place each state’s election date on the logic line. (Note: Dates are subject to change.) Work in pencil so you can move your answers around. We’ll show you how in the first problem.