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PRIMARY PRIMER

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 26, 2007

A few key dates in the development of the U.S. primary system:

Before the 1830s - Presidential candidates are chosen by caucuses of Congress members.

1824 - The congressional caucus nominating system breaks down in the hotly contested 1824 election. In the 1830s, a system of nomination by national party conventions evolves.

Late 1800s - Political bosses' domination of national conventions spurs calls for reform. The Progressive Movement presses for primary elections.

1901 - Florida passes the nation's first legislation allowing parties to elect delegates to their national conventions through primaries, but makes it optional.

1910 - Oregon becomes the first state to require party primaries to choose national convention delegates and require delegates to vote according to the primary outcome.

1912 - Theodore Roosevelt wins nine of 12 Republican primaries in a challenge to incumbent President William Howard Taft. Taft engineers a nomination win at the convention but loses the general election. This dramatizes the claim that primaries reflect the will of the people.

1916 - New Hampshire decides that its primary date will coincide with its statewide town meeting day, the second Tuesday in March, chosen so roads would still be frozen before mud season and farmers could get to town. This originates New Hampshire's 'first-in-the-nation' presidential primary.

1917 - Twenty-five states now have laws allowing presidential primaries, but reform zeal dies during the Depression and World War era.

1952 - A New Hampshire primary win vaults Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower to GOP front-runner status, even though he is still posted in Europe. He eventually wins the hotly contested nomination and the presidency.

1960 - John F. Kennedy enters and wins seven Democratic primaries including New Hampshire, helping overcome questions about whether a Catholic is electable. This helps shape the modern campaign strategy of gathering momentum with early primary wins.

1968 - Anti-Vietnam War candidate Eugene McCarthy's close second place to sitting President Johnson in New Hampshire helps persuade Johnson not to seek another term. The acrimonious Democratic primary battle and convention, inflamed by the Vietnam War controversy, spurs more calls for reform. More states switch from caucuses to primaries.

1972 - Iowa keeps its caucus, but to comply with new Democratic Party reform rules, it must move the start of its caucus process, the precinct caucuses, to early January. Iowa thus joins the other 'first-in-the-nation' state, New Hampshire.

1988 - Twenty states, mostly Southern and including Florida, set their primaries for March 8, then an early date, hoping they can force nomination of a moderate Democrat. It doesn't work; Al Gore and Jesse Jackson split the Southern vote, and Michael Dukakis gets the nomination. But it accelerates the trend of states moving up primary dates to influence the nominations.

1999 - Faced with an onslaught of states moving up, New Hampshire passes a law requiring that its primary be a week or more before any other primary. Iowa has similar laws.

2006 - Seeking to control the primary calendar, Democrats adopt rules saying no state can choose its 2008 national convention delegates based on a primary or caucus held before Feb. 5, 2008. Republicans already had adopted a similar rule. Democrats allow four exceptions: traditional early states Iowa and New Hampshire plus Nevada and South Carolina to increase minority influence.

May - The Florida Legislature moves up its presidential primary date to Jan. 29, setting the stage for conflicts with both national political parties.

September - Florida faces sanctions from both national parties because the state parties say they intend to choose national convention delegates based on the too-early Jan. 29 primary. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., says he will sue to overturn the sanctions.

Compiled by Tribune research; Sources: 'Presidential Primaries and the Caucus-Convention System,' by James W. Davis; 'Presidential Primaries and Nominations,' by William Crotty and John S. Jackson III; New Hampshire Political Library ( www.politicallibrary.org); 'A Brief History of the Iowa Caucuses,' University of Iowa ( www.uiowa.edu/election/history ); political scientist John Belohlavek, University of South Florida

A few key dates in the development of the U.S. primary system:

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