Many decades ago, the democrats received the votes of the solid south. This was at a time when the republicans were considered more liberal than democrats.
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One significant political result of the US Civil War was what was coined as the "solid South". What this meant was that because President Lincoln was a Republican, and the majority of the Congress during and after the war was also Republican. The result was that the Southern States were solid supporters of Democrats. This is no longer the situation. One might say that certainly since the beginning of the Reagan era, the Southern States will vote on issues impacting them, not on party lines.
A gerrymander is an oddly shaped district design to increase the voting strength of a particular party. The name comes from salamander-shaped districts drawn up the influence of one Elbridge Gerry , a governor of Massachusetts. As a verb it means to draw up gerrymander districts. Gerrymandering tends to occur after each census which changes the number of Congressional districts in a state. States also need to change their own legislative distrcts from to time to time due to shifts in population and the new districts may be gerrymandered to help the party in power. The idea is to study past voting records and create as many districts as possible with a slight but solid majority for the controling party. It may be necessary to have some "lost" districts to which as many opposing voters as possible are placed.
The party tries to choose someone who will complement the presidential candidate and help them win the election. This might be someone who can carry a big state that the candidate is weak in. It might be someone who is popular in an area or with a group of people who do not strongly favor the presidential candidate. It might a person who has solid experience and might be attractive to independent voters. Good debating and campaigning skills are very valuable. There also may be political considerations within the party that need to be considered. If the nomination is hard-fought , it may be wise to offer the losing candidate the number two slot in order to ensure the strong support of his supporters in the upcoming campaign. Lately, the party conventions have often let the presidential candidate name his running mate and personal likes and dislikes have seemingly become a major factor in making the choice on some occasions.
The majority of white southerners did. Blacks anywhere between 1860 and 1930's strongly supported the Republican Party.
Third parties typically fail for two reasons: 1- lack of finance, and 2-a compelling reason for the voters to support them. While Ross Perot had the money to make a credible run for president, he siphoned votes from the GOP that helped weaken the George Bush campaign against Bill Clinton. This is similar to the current (April 2015) Tea Party, who pull votes from mainstream GOP who might otherwise defeat the moderate Dems.