As a fairly recently naturalized citizen I am excited to be participating in my first set of primaries and in the fall my first presidential election. I grew up in Germany where the Chancellor is elected by the Legislature instead of in a vote by the people. Since members of the Legislature generally vote along party lines this means that the party with the majority in the Legislature effectively nominates the Chancellor. The parties in turn determine their candidates at a party convention generally in a “backroom” fashion (there is a vote at the convention but only among candidates carefully chosen by party leaders). The result is that there is little opportunity for renewal through a candidate who is popular among the people but whose opinions may differ from the main party line. Also since there is no primary process much less information about a candidate is availalbe (unless he or she is an incumbent) prior to the general election (each party has to announce their candidate for Chancellor before the general election to the Legislature). This difference from the US system is surprising given that the German setup was designed with the help of US constitutional experts after World War II but may have been a response to a fear that Germans might elect another Hitler.
