ABSTRACT
Prior to 1972, only a third of Democratic or Republican delegates were chosen through state primaries. After the Democrats' disastrous 1968 convention, where Hubert Humphrey won the nomination without entering any primaries, disgruntled Democrats charged that party bosses dictated the party nominee and platform. To enlarge rank-and-file participation at the 1972 convention, the Democratic Party decided to hold more state primaries. The Republicans did likewise, so that in 1972 both parties selected a majority of their delegates through these primaries. Henceforth, presidential hopefuls faced a grueling and expensive series of state primaries, a season of political combat that often stretched longer than the general campaign in the fall. And as the importance of the primaries increased, the national nominating convention became an event more to christen rather than to select a nominee. Unlike during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, modern candidates always win the nomination on the first ballot.
