Primary Politics

Drawing on meticulous research, interviews with key figures in both parties, and years of experience, this book explores one of the most important questions in American politics—how we narrow the list of presidential candidates every four years.

Elaine C. Kamarck

Table of Contents Preface Introduction Chapter 1: The Good Old Days?: When Parties Controlled Nominations and Primaries Were to Be Avoided at All Costs Chapter 2: Sequence as Strategy: How Jimmy Carter "Got It" and Taught Subsequent Presidential Candidates the New Rules of the Road Chapter 3: The Fight to the First: Iowa, New Hampshire and more Chapter 4: Proportional Representation: Why Democrats Use It and Republicans Don't Chapter 5: Devil in the Details: How the Delegate Count Shapes Modern Nominating Campaigns Chapter 6: Do Conventions Matter Anymore?: Why No One Could Stop Trump Chapter 7: The Loss of Peer Review and what it means for democracy Notes Index