ABSTRACT
The principal goal of the 1970 McGovern-Fraser Commission reforms was to democratize the process of selecting the party's presidential nominee by eliminating the complete control that state party leaders had over their national convention delegations. States were required to choose their delegates through a transparent process—a primary or a convention—that resulted in a delegation that reflected the views of party members. The Federal Election Campaign Act amendments of 1974 created a voluntary system of public financing and spending limits for presidential elections. Candidates who agreed to limit the amount of money they spent to win the presidential nomination would receive partial matching funds from the US Treasury. Until 1996, no candidate who had opted out of the voluntary system had run a competitive race for the nomination. In 1888, James Bryce, a British aristocrat, published an extensive study of American political institutions, The American Commonwealth..
