Flawed Path to the Presidency 1992, The: Unfairness and Inequality in the Presidential Selection Process(SUNY series on the Presidency: Contemporary Issues)

This book is a voter's-eye view of the 1992 presidential election campaign. Robert D. Loevy traveled from state to state throughout the 1992 presidential selection process—from the pre-primary period through election day—studying the candidates and the various techniques they used to win votes and outwit their opponents. As he made his way from one political rally to another, and watched one political commercial after another, Loevy had two main questions in mind: Is this process fair to the candidates who are running and the people who are making up their minds about whom to vote for? And does this process treat the voters of each state equally? This book catches the flavor and excitement of the 1992 presidential election while at the same time pointing out flaws in the process—a haphazard calendar of presidential primaries, a national nominating convention that no longer nominates, and an Electoral College that distorts each state's relative impact, to name a few—that make it essentially unequal in nature. Loevy proposes realistic and achievable reforms for each of the flaws described.

Table of Contents:
Foreword Preface 1. George Bush: From Great Triumph to Big Trouble 2. Bill Clinton: Emerging from the Democratic Field 3. Iowa 4. New Hampshire 5. Maine 6. South Dakota 7. Colorado 8. Maryland 9. Georgia 10. An Evaluation of "Junior Tuesday" 11. Super Tuesday 12. Midwest Tuesday 13. Connecticut and Vermont 14. New York 15. Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Kansas 16. The Rise of Ross Perot 17. The Irrelevant Primaries I: Oregon 18. The Irrelevant Primaries II: California 19. Toward a Model Calendar of State Presidential Primaries and Caucuses 20. Perot Surges—and Sags 21. The Evolving National Conventions 22. Bill Clinton's Convention 23. Why Perot Pulled Out 24. The Republican Convention 25. Toward a Preprimary National Mini-Convention 26. The Clinton Buscapade 27. The Bush Campaign: Searching for a Message 28. The Distorting Effects of the Electoral College 29. The Clinton and Bush Electoral College "Short Lists" 30. A Tale of Two Rallies 31. The Return of Ross Perot 32. Bush's Last Chance: The 1992 Presidential Debates 33. The End of the Path 34. Toward an Amendment for the Popular Election of the President 35. Reforming the Flawed Path Appendix: Election and Caucus Results Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Robert D. Loevy is Professor of Political Science at Colorado College. He is the author of To End All Segregation: The Politics of the Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and co-author of Colorado Politics and Government: Governing the Centennial State and American Government: We Are One.

Review :
"I am impressed with this book. It is uniquely constructed, clearly written, and offers the reader the rich opportunity to observe the '92 campaign as it unfolds. Loevy's ability to capture the nuances of the presidential campaign and to convey this information in a very interesting fashion make this work an outstanding contribution to the field." — Gary L. Rose, Sacred Heart University