University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Volume 42 2008 La Follette's Folly: A Critique of Party Associational Rights in Presidential Nomination Politics Alan Martinson University of Michigan Law School Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjlr Part of the Law and Politics Commons, and the State and Local Government Law Commons Recommended Citation Alan Martinson, La Follette's Folly: A Critique of Party Associational Rights in Presidential Nomination Politics, 42 U. MICH. J. L. REFORM 185 (2008). Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjlr/vol42/iss1/6 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform at University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform by an authorized editor of University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. LA FOLLE7TE'S FOLLY: A CRITIQUE OF PARTY ASSOCIATIONAL RIGHTS IN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION POLITICS Alan Martinson* Every four years, observers of the presidential nomination season decry the undue influence of those states that hold theirprimaries first, particularlyIowa and New Hampshire. Currently, Democratic Party rules protect the position of these states. In 2008, two states disregardedparty rules in order to move their primaries to a more influentialposition in the primary season. As punishmentfor disobeying the rules, the national party diluted the influence of the delegates from these states at the national convention. Legislative solutions to the problems of the current nomi- nation process appear unlikely.