Communication Patterns in Presidential Primaries 1912-2000: Knowing the Rules of the Game

Abstract

Instituted as a sweeping reform in American politics, the presidential primaries were conceived in passionate democratic debate. Arguing that “the power to nominate is more important than the power to elect” (Eaton, 1912, pp. 109112), reformers led by Wisconsin Senator Robert M. LaFollette, Sr. attempted to take power away from the party bosses and return it to the voters. The presidential primaries are a twentieth century phenomenon which grew out of the late nineteenth century tradition of party primaries on the local level. They are distinctly different from general elections because they are multiple, serial, and intraparty, with many candidates competing rather than just two.

This study examines the distinctive patterns of communication in presidential primaries, focussing especially on 1912, the first year of numerous primaries, and then primaries at twenty-year intervals after 1912: 1932, 1952, 1972 and 1992. Part I reports on the consistent patterns of communication found in primaries from their earliest days through 1992. Part II turns to communication in the 1996 primaries and the future, examining (a) the extent to which the communication patterns or rules used by candidates and the media in the past illuminate the 1996 primaries and those of the future, and (b) proposals for change.