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Presidential Selection Reforms
The presidential nominating process at the beginning of the twenty-first century is the product of numerous changes that date back to the late 1960s, almost all of them originating with the Democratic Party. Where once average voters had little say in the choice of a president until the November election, now they help to narrow the field to the two final major-party contenders and perhaps one or more third-party nominees. The instrument by which this is done is the presidential primary, and the Democratic reforms all dealt with the primary or caucus election of delegates to the national party convention.
While the Democrats made their delegate-selection changes by amending the rules, the Republicans and the third parties have less formally adopted many of the same reforms. In some cases the Republicans never had followed the restrictive rules that the Democrats' changes affected; or the other parties had no choice but to follow the Democrats' lead because state legislatures voted the changes into law.
Ironically, the reforms that were intended to open the nominating conventions to more women and minorities resulted in their having less to do. The changes helped to transform both parties' conventions into archaic events where preordained nominations were declared rather than fought out on the floor. And the Democrats so overcompensated in reducing the power of political bosses that they had to find a new way to give party leaders at least a face-saving role in the nominating process. They did so by creating the superdelegate position, which guaranteed certain elected and party officials seats at the Democratic National Convention.
Rooted in the 1960s
The Democrats' overhaul of the nominating system can be traced in part to the tumultuous political climate of 1968, when protests against the Vietnam War were reaching a peak and Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated. There were race riots in major cities, student uprisings throughout the country, and bitter confrontations between demonstrators and police.
North Vietnam's Tet offensive against South Vietnam in January 1968 brought massive U.S. casualties and provoked renewed opposition to the war. A leading opponent of the war, Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy of Minnesota, challenged President Lyndon B. Johnson in the New Hampshire primary and campaigned against his Vietnam policies. Although Johnson won by a narrow margin, McCarthy's impressive showing dealt a mortal blow to Johnson's reelection campaign. Two weeks afterward the president withdrew his candidacy.
Johnson's heir apparent, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, delayed his formal entry into the race to avoid primary contests with McCarthy and Robert Kennedy, who was assassinated June 5 after winning the California primary. With the backing of party regulars, Humphrey assumed correctly that he would be nominated at the Democratic National Convention. But Humphrey's nomination was won at a price. State delegations who opposed his nomination felt shut out, and they let their bitterness be known.
Before the convention, McCarthy supporters had formed the ad hoc Commission on the Democratic Selection of Presidential Nominees, chaired by Iowa governor Harold E. Hughes. The Hughes Commission report, issued just before the convention began, told of unfair representation of McCarthy during the delegate-selection process. Nearly one-third of the convention delegates already had been chosen before McCarthy announced his candidacy. In short, the Hughes Commission report concluded that the Democratic Party's delegate-selection process displayed “considerably less fidelity to basic democratic principles than a nation which claims to govern itself can safely tolerate.”
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