Title: The party decides : presidential nominations before and after reform /
Authors: Cohen, Marty.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press,
Year: 2008
Subjects: Presidents United States Nomination; Primaries United States.; Political parties United States
Abstract: Throughout the contest for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, politicians and voters alike worried that the outcome might depend on the preferences of unelected superdelegates. This concern threw into relief the prevailing notion that--such unusually competitive cases notwithstanding--people, rather than parties, should and do control presidential nominations. But for the past several decades, The Party Decides shows, unelected insiders in both major parties have effectively selected candidates long before citizens reached the ballot box. Tracing the evolution of presidential nominatio.
Contents: The outrageous nomination of Hubert Humphrey -- Whose parties? -- The creation of new parties -- Weak structures, strong parties -- Last hurrahs of the old system. Appendix to chapter 5: state parties in 1952 -- Mastering the postreform system. Appendix to Chapter 6: A closer look at the endorsement data -- The invisible primary: theory and evidence -- Anatomy of a conversation. Appendix to chapter 8: models of the invisible primary -- The voters weigh in. Appendix to chapter 9: models of delegate share -- Political parties today.