Despite dominating modern American politics, the primary election as we know it is a rather recent development. Only fully realized in the 1980 Reagan electoral cycle, the progression of candidate selection in the United States has broadly taken three forms, according to Bruce J. Schulman, the William E. Huntington Professor of History at Boston University: nomination by the statehouse or congressional caucus, nomination by a convention of party bosses, and open caucus and primary elections
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The evolution of candidate selection in America is fundamentally about tension between grassroots activists and party elites, between a more participatory democracy or closed-door politicking. But did these progressive elements and the seismic electoral changes they brought do more harm than good?