ABSTRACT
In an effort to assuage the activists, the convention agreed to appoint a commission to study the party's presidential nomination process. In 1969, the party established a commission headed by Senators George McGovern of South Dakota and Congressman Don Fraser of Minnesota that was charged with completely overhauling the nomination process to allow greater public participation in the selection of the nominee. The McGovern-Fraser Commission standardized the rules for the selection of delegates to the Democratic National Convention; enforcement of these rules was left to the national party. The McGovern-Fraser rules gave state parties the option of choosing their delegates to the national convention either by a convention or a primary. Both the Republicans and Democrats have followed the McGovern-Fraser Commission's recommendation that the size of a states delegation to the national convention should reflect the size and strength of its party in the state.
