Party Elites in the 2008 Presidential Nomination Campaigns

Authors

  • Wayne P. Steger

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15763/issn.2374-7781.2008.28.0.293-318

Abstract

Recent studies find that candidate endorsements by party elites play significant role in presidential nomination campaigns. This study analyzes patterns of endorsements by elite office holders to address questions of when and why elites converge on a preferred candidate. The interaction of candidate-, campaign-, and party-centric factors affect the extent to which party elites coalesce around a single front-runner prior to the Iowa caucus. Elite officeholders tend to refrain from pre-Iowa endorsements when there is uncertainty about which candidate will emerge as the front-runner. Elite officeholders are more likely to endorse candidates located near the ideological center of their political party. Elite Republican officeholders appear to have refrained from making an early endorsement in 2007 compared to early nomination campaigns because the Republican nomination campaign has been highly competitive without a clear front runner and none of the candidates are near the ideological center of the party.

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Published

2008-01-01

Issue

Vol. 28: Winter 2007-2008

Section

Articles

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