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Some history lessons, and a look to the future, about the way Americans nominate presidential candidates. It was Teddy Roosevelt who seized on the idea of holding presidential primaries in 1912, telling the party bosses to "let the people rule." Geoffrey Cowan has written a book about why we use primaries, caucuses and conventions to decide who our presidential candidates will be. 

Cowan spoke Feb. 2nd at the Commonwealth Club of California about his new book, "Let the People Rule: Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of the Presidential Primary." Cowan is president of the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands. Univ. of California president Janet Napolitano was the moderator.

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It was Teddy Roosevelt who seized on the idea of holding presidential primaries in 1912, telling the party bosses to "let the people rule." Geoffrey Cowan has written a book about why we use primaries, caucuses and conventions to decide who our presidential candidates will be.

Geoffrey Cowan: Why we have presidential primaries

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