Customer Reviews

Grassroots Rules: How the Iowa Caucus Helps Elect American Presidents (Stanford Law Books)

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4 star:		(1)
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This well researched argument demonstrates that the caucus system gives power to the grassroots and neutralizes much of the power of big money.

Iowa, Colorado, and just a handful of states still have this neighborhood system for getting the common persons input into the presidential election and to nominate candidates to the primary ballot for local elections.

The product of the Teddy Roosevelt progressive movement, the caucus was created along with the recall and initiative process.

States with direct primary elections should consider this book carefully, and the possibility of bringing back the caucus.

Here's what Ben Franklin had to say about the matter here in Colorado in 2008:
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This book is very interesting for anyone concerned with US Presidential elections. It takes a balanced approach but comes to definite conclusions about the importance of the Iowa Caucus. What I liked was the way it dug beneath the surface statistics to provide an in-depth analysis of what is going on.

Christopher Hull has written a rigorously-researched and tightly-sourced analysis of the impact of the Iowa presidential caucuses. His work applies academic precision to a subject with which Hull has extensive real-world experience, and this combination truly shines through the page. An absolute must-read for those who seek to understand the presidential selection process.