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Director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance Lawrence Jacobs points to changes instituted in the 1970s as a turning point in the way primary elections were contested. Responsibility for choosing nominees, he said, was transferred from party officials to the voters.

"Frankly, it doesn't matter if Iowa and New Hampshire go first - which certainly have moderate elements - or if it's Georgia and Florida and those states go first," he said. "It's the fact that in each of those states you tend to get this narrow segment of party activists driving the process."

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