We [the United States] are the world's only superpower right now, so everyone notices every bit of what we do or don't do.

The Founding Fathers would be sorry to see that America had become so divided and factionalized.

The point is that you see candidates running in these different kinds of contests. A primary shows you something that's different from a state party convention, which shows you something that is different than what a caucus shows you.

You don't say that for a senator to be a great senator he has to vote against his constituency.

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.

Then you get to the last half of the 20th century, Americans are getting very skeptical about their leaders and their institutions, and another place that is affected is parties and conventions.

Legacy is what a president does that affects later generations.