TALK: Friends of UWA Albany Sandwich Seminar

The process the US uses to select major party presidential candidates is long, difficult and exhausting for both candidates and voters. It can also hurt the eventual nominees, because of the attacks that their co-partisans make during the struggle to obtain the nomination. Why does the US have such a process, which is unique among industrialized democracies? Prof Mayer will discuss the history of nominating systems in the US, the origins of the current primary system, talk about the 2012 process, and address possible reforms. Professor Mayer’s teaching and research interests are in American government and institutions (especially Congress and the Presidency) and campaign finance. He is the author of 'With the Stroke of a Pen: Executive Orders and Presidential Power' (Princeton University Press, 2001), 'The Political Economy of Defense Contracting' (Yale University Press, 1991), and 'The Dysfunctional Congress? The Individual Roots of an Institutional Dilemma' (Westview Press, 1999, with David T. Canon). His current research focuses on election administration in the United States, and the effectiveness of recent state-level campaign finance reforms.