Essay on Presidential Selection Process

Over the last several decades, few institutions in American national government have been as consistently controversial as the presidential nomination process. The basic rules of this process were almost completely rewritten in the early 1970s, and from the moment the reforms first took effect, they faced a firestorm of criticism. The purpose of this article is to present a brief overview of how the current system works, some of the major criticisms that have been lodged against it, and what major alternatives have been proposed for reshaping the process.
The American presidential nomination contest is highly complex system, including a multitude of distinct rules and procedures, nearly all of which have generated some measure of controversy and a lengthy academic literature describing their alleged effects. What follows, then, is clearly not an exhaustive description of the current system, but rather an attempts to highlight its most important features.

First, the final decision about which candidate becomes a party's presidential nominee is still made by the national conventions, which are usually held in mid- to late summer of the election year. Though the convention decision has become increasingly pro forma, much like the voting in the Electoral College, the ultimate goal of the candidates--the centerpiece of all their planning--is still to win a majority of the delegates to their party's national convention.

Second, the national parties each promulgate general guidelines that specify how states are to select their national convention delegates and what sorts of things they must and must not do. As a general matter, national Democratic rules regulate the delegate selection process in considerable detail; the Republicans tend to give more discretion to states.

Third, the national rules in both major parties allow states to select their delegates in one of two ways: by primary or by a caucus-convention system. Primaries are elections, generally held under the auspices of state government.................

ESSAY ON THE AMERICAS