Cook is one of the true authoritative sources on the presidential nominating process. This short book is jam-packed with important information on the nominating process, placing it in both historical and comparative perspective. This truly outstanding work draws the reader into a complex web of money, primaries, and politics, offering suggestions for reform but holding out only slim hopes that the reform will either be enacted of effective.

Library Journal

Rhodes Cook delivers an excellent, insightful, and highly readable work. Cook gives valuable historical and comparative accounts of leadership selection both in the U.S. and abroad, as well as authoritative appraisals of previous and proposed reforms, making this an indispensable book for understanding the evolution of the presidential nomination process leading to the 2004 primaries and caucuses.

Harold W. Stanley, Southern Methodist University

Rhodes Cook's searching intelligence, his love for what is real-and local-in American politics, and his indefatigable capacity for research have made him a national resource. He has turned his gifts to a nearly impossible problem: the search for a better way to nominate our presidential candidates. This thoughtful and helpful book puts so many of his gifts on display-notably fairness, clarity, sophistication, and an admirable love for democracy and popular participation. This is an enormous contribution to a debate we have every four years, and will no doubt have again soon."

E. J. Dionne Jr., syndicated columnist and senior fellow at The Brookings Institution

Terrific insights on how the leader of the free world is chosen. Read this book and you will never not vote again!

Richard Bond, former Republican National Committee Chairman

William Marcy 'Boss' Tweed once said, 'I don't care who elects them as long as I nominate them.' Tweed was right: the critical first step in presidential elections is in the maze of primaries and caucuses, and in this timely book, Rhodes Cook tells us why it starts so early and costs so much. He also shows us who has the real power in the system, how it got that way and what reforms are needed to restore some influence to the average voter.

Ken Bode, DePauw University

For an awful lot of Americans, including many of us who cover the subject for a living, the nation's presidential nominating system and primaries remain a source of mystery and confusion. With his signature insight and gift for explanation, Rhodes Cook has written a political Baedeker's or Michelin-the definitive guide to understanding the nation's presidential nominating system. If you read Rhodes Cook's The Presidential Nominating Process: A Place for Us? I guarantee you will become a more informed - and maybe even a better-citizen or journalist.

Mark Shields, syndicated columnist, moderator of CNN's The Capital Gang, and political analyst on PBS's NewsHour With Jim Lehrer