=Merits and Defects of the Primary.=—As a method of making nominations the primary, whether closed, open, or non-partisan, has both merits and defects. It is better than the convention in that it places nominations directly in the hands of the voters, thus making it more difficult for party bosses to dictate who the candidates shall be. Conventions consisting of a relatively small number of delegates, many of them officeholders, can be manipulated by wire-pulling politicians. Nominations made by conventions have frequently been, for that reason, very unsatisfactory to the rank and file of the voters. The primary gives an opportunity to the man or woman who is popular with the voters although not popular with the politicians. It tends to break down some of the worst abuses of the party system. [Sidenote: Objections to it.] On the other hand there are some practical objections to the primary as a method of making nominations and a vigorous fight is now being waged to abolish it. A primary means an additional election with all the attendant campaigning and expense. The total vote cast at a primary is often small; hence the candidate who gains the nomination may or may not be the real choice of his party.[41] The primary puts a burden upon those who seek to gain elective public office, for they must virtually fight and win two successive battles at the polls. To do this takes so much time that men and women who have business of their own to attend to are often deterred from becoming candidates. The field of political activity thus tends to become monopolized by professional politicians who have nothing else to do. The primary contests are so bitter at times that they create dissensions in the party ranks and weaken the party at the ensuing election. The use of the primary has not enabled us to get rid of political bosses; it has merely made them work a great deal harder to retain control. [Sidenote: A new development.] In some states the political parties have adopted the practice of holding an “informal” convention some few weeks before the date of the primary. This convention, which is composed of unofficial delegates, makes recommendations as to the candidates who ought to be voted for by members of the party at the primary. Members of the party are free, of course, to do as they please at the primary, but the recommendations made by an “informal” convention, in view of the fact that they are largely the work of acknowledged party leaders, carry a good deal of weight. [Sidenote: This means a further complication.]