Nelson examines her topic through the metaphor of Chicago's famous Grant Park.During the tumultuous Democratic Party convention of 1968, thousands of youngpeople and African Americans rioted in Grant Park after being excluded from thenomination process. In 2008, on the other hand, thousands again jammed thepark, but this time they were celebrating the convincing victory of their first AfricanAmerican president.
A lot had to happen in American politics during that forty-year period before Obamacould emerge victoriously from the Windy City. In Grant Park, Nelson explains howchanges in technology, finance laws, party rules, political institutions, and theelectorate itself produced the stunning turnaround, and how presidential selectionmight change again heading toward November 2012 and beyond.
"The presidential election of 2012 will bear little resemblance to the 1968 election.Americans will have more opportunities to participate in the election, and theelectorate will be more diverse. While the campaign finance system continuesto challenge the democratization of presidential elections, the overall picture ofpresidential elections is one much more democratic than demonstrators faced inGrant Park in the summer of 1968." From Grant Park
Candice J. Nelson is an associate professor of government at AmericanUniversity in Washington, D.C., where she also serves as academic director of theCampaign Management Institute. Among her previous books are The Money Chase,written with David Magleby, as well as Campaign Warriors and Campaigns andElections American Style, both of which she edited with James Thurber.