In the run-up to this election season, The Party Decides seemed to be on every political science nerd’s reading list. The 2008 book by political scientists Marty Cohen, David Karol, Hans Noel, and John Zaller laid out how the invisible primary — party elites’ behind-the-scenes machinations before primary season — plays a heavy role in shaping nominations. One big idea: when party members line up definitively behind one candidate (in the form of endorsements) during that invisible primary, that candidate wins. …
We talked to Cohen about how he views the 2016 election — if it’s changed how he thinks, as well as how parties could again strengthen their grips on nominations. CONT.
Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR