Template rendering views in Backbone

BaseView.js

var BaseView = Backbone.View.extend({
  children: {},
  checkId: null,
  shown: false,

  events: {
    'click .back-to-top': 'backToTop',
    'click h2 a': 'jumpTo'
  },

  constructor: function(options) {
    this.options = this.options || {};
     _.extend(this.options, { animationLength: 500, offset: 100}, options);
    Backbone.View.apply(this, arguments);
  },

  /**
   * Compile templates and store them in a lookup table
   */
  initializeTemplates: function() {
    var sources;
    this._templates = {};

    // No template sources
    if (!this.options.templateSource) {
      return this;
    }


    if (!_.isObject(this.options.templateSource)) {
      sources = {
        '_default': this.options.templateSource
      };
    }
    else {
      sources = this.options.templateSource;
    }

    _.each(sources, function(source, name) {
      this._templates[name] = this.compileTemplate(source);
    }, this);
  },

  /**
   * Compile a template source in a string into a template object.
   */
  compileTemplate: function(templateSource) {
    return _.template(templateSource);
  },

  /**
   * Get a pre-compiled template.
   */
  getTemplate: function(name) {
    name = name || '_default';

    return this._templates[name];
  },

  // ...
};  

ChildView.js

var ChildView = BaseView.extend({
  options: {
    templateSource: {
      '_default': $('#filter-template').html(),
      'candidate': '<p><strong><%= name %></strong>:<br><%= race %></p>'
    }
  },

  initialize: function(options) {
    // Stuff ...
    this.initializeTemplates();
    // More stuff ...
  },

  // ...
};