Heres How an Open Democratic Convention Would Work
b'Last week on the show, I argued that the Democrats should pick their nominee at the Democratic National Convention in August.\\n\\nIt\\u2019s an idea that sounds novel but is really old-fashioned. This is how most presidential nominees have been picked in American history. All the machinery to do it is still there; we just stopped using it. But Democrats may need a Plan B this year. And the first step is recognizing they have one.\\n\\nElaine Kamarck literally wrote the book on how we choose presidential candidates. It\\u2019s called \\u201cPrimary Politics: Everything You Need to Know About How America Nominates Its Presidential Candidates.\\u201d She\\u2019s a senior fellow in governance studies and the founding director of the Center for Effective Public Management at the Brookings Institution. But her background here isn\\u2019t just theory. It\\u2019s practice. She has worked on four presidential campaigns and 10 nominating conventions for both Democrats and Republicans. She\\u2019s also on the convention\\u2019s rules committee and has been a superdelegate at five Democratic conventions.\\n\\nIt\\u2019s a fascinating conversation, even if you don\\u2019t think Democrats should attempt to select their nominee at the convention. The history here is rich, and it is, if nothing else, a reminder that the way we choose candidates now is not the way we have always done it and not the way we must always do it.\\n\\nBook Recommendations:\\n\\nAll the King\\u2019s Men by Robert Penn Warren\\n\\nThe Making of the President 1960 by Theodore H. White\\n\\nQuiet Revolution by Byron E. Shafer\\n\\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\\n\\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of \\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\\n\\nThis episode of \\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d was produced by Annie Galvin. Fact checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair and Kristin Lin. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld. Our senior editor is Claire Gordon. The show\\u2019s production team also includes Rollin Hu. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. And special thanks to Sonia Herrero.'