In the forty-year span between 1968 and 2008, the United States underwent great change in nearly every avenue of life—economics, social mores, demographics, technology, and of course politics. The way Americans chose Richard Nixon as their president was very different from the way they chose Barack Obama. The process of selecting Obama was more open and inclusive in a number of ways. In Grant Park, Candice Nelson examines the democratization of the presidential election process over four turbulent decades.

Nelson examines her topic through the metaphor of Chicago's famous Grant Park. During the Democratic Party convention of 1968 in Chicago, where a tumultuous but closed-process resulted in Hubert Humphrey’s nomination, anti-war and counter-culture demonstrators battled police and National Guardsmen in Chicago’s Grant Park in riots that shocked the nation. In 2008, on the other hand, thousands again jammed the park, but this time they were celebrating the convincing victory of the first African American president. A lot had to happen in U.S. politics during that forty-year period before Obama could emerge victoriously from the Windy City.

Nelson explains how changes in technology, finance laws, party rules, political institutions, and the electorate itself produced this stunning turnaround, and how the presidential selection process might change again in the run-up to 2012.

Contents

1. Campaign Finance
2. The Nomination Process
3. Conventions
4. The General Election
5. The Role of Technology
6. Changes in Election Law
7. The Changing Electorate
8. Looking toward 2012

"Grant Park is an excellent review of the past 50 years of presidential election history...In each chapter the major events are chronicled and the major conclusions drawn. It...would be a good primer for anyone who is new to the topic."—Elaine Kamarck, author of The End of Government as We Know It and Primary Politics