>> that's a look at some of the vincent booktv will be covering this week. many of these events are open to the public. look for them to air in the near future on booktv on c-span2. ..

>> they created rules for the selection of delegates which led many states to switch to presidential primaries. you got the switch in the 19719, there are primaries. >> what were the changes the democratic party did in the seven days? >> there were no rules on how delegates were selected. sometimes they were appointed and sometimes they were

officials. the rules were that the process had to be timely within the election year and it had to be open to all democrats and following the rules if there is a caucus, and having a presidentia presidential selection. it was disaster: they felt they

had short changed. there were riots outside and they developed a commission to look into the rules. >> did the republicans follow suit? >> no, they left it up to the state and generally the process became more alike because when a state was opened up. in the early 20th century, the

use of primaries was in 1912 which turned out to be a disaster. roosevelt decided he wanted too president and taft was getting the support from and he stomped out and that stopped the process. >> did it stop or did it come back? >> there was around 15 states that held primaries but they were not connected to the delegate selection and they were

not important until after world war ii. >> when did the smoke filled bathrooms fade away? >> in the early 1900s in some ways, we started getting good public opinion program. they often follow the polls. the media provided more coverage are with radio and television programs. >> you said early victories helped later victories. what is the idea of that?

>> momentum doesn't always last. some candidates win in iowa and never win in any place else. and sometimes this momentum can reverse. it was sort of a switch for love of the running.

>> switching the candidates and having a grassley root democracy is now a little bit more the people come there with their preferences already pretty firm. it is a way to, you know, socialize with your neighbors and perhaps the delegates are selected at congressional district caucuses and state conventions. >> does this system work? >> does this system work? well, it works as well as probably anything we can think of or get past right now. you get the voters voice through the primaries. the activists are people who are intensely involved in politics. the elite endorsements that

governors or senators or members of the house make give a voice to those individuals. it doesn't also produce a smooth result but it taps into the some of those voices. >> has it weakened with the parties? >> depends on what you mean about the parties. the national parties have a problem controlling this but the state parties had influence in the past as well. so, the parties have -- they are weakened by lots of things that happened in the past. you know, demise of patronage weakens.

the state laws have regulated parties pre-heavily starting in the 1900s because of the abuses and there is lots of competition for the parties and consultants. >> the stronger political parties that you think of in the northeast adopted a closed primary to restrict participation to people who are registered. other states where the progressive movement was

stronger, they were more likely to adopt an open primary. >> barbara norrander is the author of the "the imperfect primary: oddities, biases, and strengths of u.s." what is an oddity? >> it is odd to have some people being open and some closed and the fact there is lots of people trying to influence the national and state parties and candidates. it is also odd because most countries don't use primary elections to make nominations. >> why do they bring super

delegates in the process and what is a super delegate? >> a super delegate is usually anale anale an elected official, sometimes a party leader, it is a response in the individual reform. when they did the initial reform they found out there was conventions, like '72 and '76, didn't have the traditional senators or representatives or governors being part of the process. they wanted to bring back in the voice of those individuals who traditionally had influence. so they developed those in the 1980s. since that thime they changed the number of people who are super delegates but they have the ability to decide on their own which candidate they want to support. >> host: why did you write this book? what was your goal?

>> try to explain how we got to where we are today. >> how were candidates chosen prior to the 1900s? >> they were chosen by a conventi convention. these were regulars and they would go through a series of role calls of votes until one candidate got the required delega delegate. there is a democratic convention in the early 1900s.

everything that is happening within the convention, and outside influences and candidates were not supposed to campaign with the presidential nominee. it was more of an internal to the conduction. >> what potential changes do you see on the horizon for how we select our candidates? >> they have been tinkering with the rules all along. the republicans between 2012-2016 made it so that the delegates that were selected particularly in caucus states would reflect the initial caucus vote and not so much some of the things happening after the fact. the democrats would take the number of super delegates lower

that a little bit and you might see more of that tinkering. >> you are watching booktv on c-span and we have been talking to barbara norrander. >> two united states senators have new books coming out. al franken recalls this campaign in giant of the senate and mike lee reports on lesser known figures that affect the u.s. constitution in written out of history. franken and lee will appear on after words in the coming weeks. tom coborn officers his thoughts

on government spending. graham explores the relationship between china and the united states through the trap in destined for war. and historian sean mcmeekan takes a closer look at the end of the rule over russia in the russian revolution. >> good evening, everybody. welcome to this author event. it is so nice to have you here. i am anderson and a member of the board of trustees.