- McGovern-Fraser Commission
The McGovern-Fraser Commission, formally known as Commission on Party Structure and Delegate Selection cite web | title =McGovern-Fraser Commission created by Democratic Party | publisher =JusticeLearning | url =http://www.justicelearning.org/justice_timeline/Issues.aspx?IssueID=14&TimelineID=55&TimelineEventID=447 | accessdate = 2007-09-25 ] was a commission created in response to the tumultuous
1968 Democratic National Convention . Soon after Nixon's electoral victory, the 28-member commission was selected by SenatorFred R. Harris , who was then the Chairman of theDemocratic National Committee .cite web | last =Stricherz | first =Mark | title =Primary colors | publisher = The Boston Globe | date =2007-11-23 | url =http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2003/11/23/primary_colors/ | accessdate =2007-09-25 ] SenatorGeorge McGovern and later RepresentativeDonald Fraser chaired the commission, which is how the commission received its name. McGovern resigned from the commission in 1971 in order to run for president.The convention approved the establishment of a party committee to examine current rules and make recommendations designed to broaden participation and enable better representation for minorities and others who were underrepresented. The McGovern-Fraser Commission established open procedures and
affirmative action guidelines for selectingdelegate s. In addition the commission made it so that all delegate selection procedures were required to be open; party leaders could no longer handpick the convention delegates in secret. The commission recommended that delegates be represented by the proportion of their population in each state. cite web
last = Satterthwaite | first =Shad | title =How did party conventions come about and what purpose do they serve? | publisher =ThisNation.com |url = http://www.thisnation.com/question/038.html | accessdate =2007-09-25 ] An unforeseen result of these rules was that many states complied by holdingprimary election s to select convention delegates. This created a shift from caucuses to primaries. The Republican Party’s nomination process was also transformed in this way, as state laws involving primaries usually apply to all parties’ selection of delegates.References
*Edwards, George C., III; Robert L. Lineberry; and Martin P. Wattenberg. "Government in America", 2006
Pearson Education , Inc. ISBN 0-321-29236-7.*Maisel, Louis Sandy "Parties and Elections in America" ISBN 0742547647
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.