During the 19th century and for most of the 20th century Republicans and Democrats held presidential nominating conventions. These were dramatic affairs in which it was not a forgone conclusion as to who would be the eventual nominee. Every state sent a contingency of local politicians and party bosses to cast votes for the various candidates.
For example, in 1860 the Republicans had seven potential nominees to choose from. William H. Seward was generally regarded as the front-runner. On the third ballot Abraham Lincoln became the nominee. Multiple ballots (an election to find a consensus candidate) were common in the old party conventions. It took 103 ballots and two weeks for Democrats to select their nominee in 1924, John W. Davis.
In the early 20th century, progressives began to wrest control from the party bosses and held the first presidential primaries. Today average voters in their party's primaries decide the two major parties' nominees. Political conventions are now coronations, not elections.
While the primary system seems more democratic than the old nominating convention with their proverbial smoke-filled rooms, I wish we could go back to old way of selecting the nominees.
One problem with the primary system is that the first states have an outsized influence on who becomes the nominee. When a party doesn't have an incumbent vying for a second term, parties usually have ten or so presidential candidates to start with. After a second or third state the field of candidates usually winnows down to one or two. After the first few states, the other primaries are done deals: the nominee has already been decided.
In the old convention days, every state had some say in who would be the nominee.
The voting participants in the primaries in the early states represent only about 15% of their state's registered voters of each party. They tend to be the most extreme members of the parties; often single-issue voters. In this primary season, Donald Trump won about 230,000 votes in not-so demographically diverse Iowa and New Hampshire which according to the RNC makes him the presumptive nominee. That's like a small city deciding who will be a party's nominee in an election which will see about 150 million votes cast in the general election.
In the old convention days, the conventioneers looked for candidates who broad appeal. The candidates in those days tended to be more moderate, especially the candidates who became president.
Another bug of the current primary system is that it extends the time candidates spend campaigning. That means a candidate has to spend more on the extended campaign and months of advertising.
In the old convention days, candidates didn't announce their intentions until shortly before the convention, if they announced at all. A few times the nominee was a dark horse candidate who was barely mentioned before the convention. Other than the cost of placards, banners and buttons there wasn't much money spent on advertising.
