Party structure

American parties are decentralized. The national committees, the fifty state parties and thousands of county and local committees are separate organizations, each with its own leaders, rules and money. State parties write many of their own nomination rules, and local parties recruit candidates and turn out voters with little direction from the top.

So the best description is several layers of party organization that are largely independent of one another.

Each choice

• A. State and local parties exist and run much of the work of elections, so the national level is far from the only one.
• B. Neither party is centrally organized. Each presidential campaign builds much of its own operation rather than inheriting one from the last.
• C. Orders do not flow from the national party down. State and local parties make many of their own decisions.
• D. State and local parties hold real power over nominations, ballot access and turning out voters.
• E (correct). National, state and local party organizations are separate and largely independent, which is what decentralized parties look like.