You have to raise $100 million, probably, to be serious.

You have had presidential candidates over the last 30 years who would have had a very hard time getting nominated under the old system. One example is John Kennedy.

So the result was that as one approached a political convention for most of the 19th century and for most of the 20th century until the 1960's, part of the drama was the fact that you didn't know ultimately who was going to be the nominee at the end of that convention week.

First of all, there's no mention of political parties in the Constitution, so you begin American history with not only no political conventions but also no parties.

As parties began to develop around the turn of the 19th century, you had party nominees for President nominated in caucuses made up of party members in Congress.

You have to raise $100 million, probably, to be serious.

To people who remember JFK's assassination, JFK Jr. will probably always be that boy saluting his father's coffin.