Tired Of The Primaries?
Blame North Dakota:
When it comes to electing the President, the modern campaign era has its roots 95 years ago when North Dakota held the first presidential primary. CQ Politics looks back and charts for you, election by election, how this process grew over the last century into the long and sprawling campaigns that have become part of the political landscape. This first in a series covers 1912-64.
1912 (March 19): North Dakota’s launch of the first primary was an effort to open up a nominating process that had been dominated by party insiders. The Progressive political movement was a key factor in the rise of primaries and one of its members, Wisconsin Republican Sen. Robert M. La Follette, won the North Dakota primary, with former President Theodore Roosevelt finishing second. Roosevelt went on to win in most of the 12 other states that held primaries in this inaugural year. When William Howard Taft used his control of the party machinery to win the delegate vote at the GOP national convention, Roosevelt broke away and ran as the nominee of his newly formed (and ephemeral) Progressive, or Bull Moose, Party. Though Roosevelt made history as the only third-party candidate then or since to run ahead of an incumbent president — Taft finished last — the Republican split enabled Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win his first of two terms as president.
Who knew that North Dakotans were such political innovators?
