ABSTRACT
Each presidential nomination battle seems to bring up its own questions of fairness. When the nomination race concludes early, such as after the Super Tuesday primaries, voters in states that have not yet held their primaries are left out of the choice. Even though the 2012 Republican race ran a bit beyond Super Tuesday, when Santorum left the race in early April, 19 states still had not voted. An elongated nomination contest brings up another set of concerns. The neck-and-neck battle in 2008 between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination led to questions about the fairness and consequences of delegate selection rules. Did the Democratic Party’s use of proportional representation rules needlessly prolong the battle between the two candidates by making it more difficult for either candidate to win a large majority of the delegates from any state? And while most states hold presidential primaries, about one-quarter of the states use caucuses. Are these caucuses fair with their limited participation levels, especially when caucus victories can add to one candidate’s fortunes? Election rules matter, and U.S. presidential nomination politics has lots of rules.
