ABSTRACT
To illustrate how time and sequence impact the selection of presidential nominees this chapter reviews the 2008 presidential nominations. The chapter overviews the shaping of the nominating calendar and the movement of states seeking to maximize influence in the selection process before recounting the major parties’ nominating contests from the pre-primary, or invisible primary, identification of front-runners, to the winnowing of candidates in early contests and the identification of the parties’ presumptive nominee, whether by candidate attrition or the mathematical clinching of the nomination in the delegate count. The year 2008 reflected an unprecedented acceleration of front-loading in which more than half of the delegates were chosen on a single date. The author reviews the controversies created by state violations of timing rules as the consequence of the parties’ perpetuation of a nominating calendar that affords disproportionate influence to party members in earlier voting states. The chapter contrasts the national parties’ responses to the timing controversies, highlighting the ways in which the major party nominations adhered to or deviated from the standard script of modern nominations. The prolonged contest between Clinton and Obama afforded all states relevancy and highlighted the role of the superdelegates, while the nomination of McCain reflected the early closure typical in modern nominating contests. The chapter closes with the parties’ revisions of timing and delegate allocation rules in anticipation of 2012.
