Presidential Nominating Process

Event Details

Richard Scammon, director of the Elections Research Center, election consultant for NBC News, director of the Bureau of Census for the Department of Commerce and author of several books, talks about the presidential nominating process. He describes it as party-oriented but lacking a third party even though there have been third party candidates. He also mentions the shift from convention to primary nominations, comparing conventions in the 19th century with the present, and how the nominating process has become a national campaign marked by an institutionalized faction system. Scammon discusses the length of the campaigns, the selection process among states, and the triumph of greed over ideology in the conventions as candidates move from the extremes to the center in order to win. In the question and answer section, Scammon addresses the impact of television on elections, the outlook of the 1984 presidential campaigns, the importance of primaries, the qualities needed to win elections, his views on campaign reforms, poverty, and the influence of the black vote.