Could this be the year that a political party’s national convention actually decides a presidential nominee again?
Thanks to the rise of the primary system, political conventions have largely become three-night infomercials for the presidential candidate and his party. The last thing the parties want is a televised struggle at a convention.
“Brokered” or “contested” conventions were once common. That was during the heyday of the party bosses and the smoke-filled room deals.
A convention is considered brokered when no candidate receives a majority during the first round of delegates voting. Delegates are only pledged to a candidate on the first ballot. The last brokered conventions were in 1948 for Republicans and 1952 for Democrats.
To the surprise of many, Donald Trump is the front-runner in the Republican presidential race.
Anti-Trump Republicans are hoping that a winnowed field would allow a single candidate to emerge as a strong alternative whom the party could rally behind. In a twist, the playing field has shifted so their best chance for stopping Trump may be if his three remaining rivals — Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida — all win in their strongest states, denying him the 1,237 delegates he needs to clinch the nomination.
Under that scenario, the nomination could be wrested from Trump during a brokered national convention in July.
The GOP candidates have been eyeing Florida and its 99 delegates for months, but Trump’s rivals are facing the possibility of a Trump romp there on Tuesday. For Rubio, failure to win in Florida would spur intense calls from fellow Republicans to end his campaign.
Kasich also faces a make-or-break contest on Tuesday in his home state of Ohio. Sixty-six delegates are at stake, which offers Kasich his best opportunity to win his first state and keep his campaign alive.
Trump’s biggest threat is Cruz, who has won 359 delegates to Trump’s 458. But Cruz is a another polarizing figure, disdained within the Republican establishment. It will be difficult for many Republicans to rally around Cruz, even if he’s the last best option to Trump.
When I was young, I despised the national conventions. The major TV networks offered gavel-to-gavel coverage of the proceedings. So for several days, there was nothing else to watch on Jackson’s two TV stations.
The first convention I remember clearly was the infamous 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Vice President Hubert Humphrey had only entered the race after President Lyndon Johnson ended his re-election bid on March 31 (unthinkably late now). Unlike his chief rivals, Sens. Robert Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy, Humphrey didn’t enter any primaries, winning all of his delegates in the caucuses.
Kennedy was assassinated in June, furthering the divisions in the Democratic Party. McCarthy ran a campaign opposed to the Vietnam War, while Humphrey was seen as a continuation of Johnson’s polices. Deals were made (allegedly), and Humphrey won the nomination. He went on to lose the general election to Richard Nixon.
Outside the convention hall, 10,000 anti-war protesters clashed with 23,000 Chicago police and Illinois National Guardsmen in what came to be called a “police riot.” Much of the violence was shown on national TV. Also, reporters were roughed up by police and security guards inside and outside the convention hall.
This led to my first political disagreement with my father. I said that I didn’t think it was right for the police to attack people, even if I, all of 9 years old, disagreed with their anti-war views.
I was also distressed about the assaults on reporters. (I watched the news every night.) My father was not sympathetic with the demonstrators or the liberal media.
The last national convention that came close to being brokered was the 1976 Republican convention. Neither incumbent President Gerald Ford nor Ronald Reagan came to the convention with enough delegates to secure the nomination. After some horse trading (allegedly), Ford won the nomination. He went on to lose to Jimmy Carter. Reagan’s turn would come in 1980 when he defeated Carter.
But that wasn’t my top presidential campaign moment of 1976. That came when my mother’s father, Mathas DeLoach of Carroll County, told us that he had stayed up until the wee hours several nights in a row “watching the speeches” at the Democratic convention. This was surprising because the man didn’t watch much TV and usually went to bed by 10 p.m.
However, Granddaddy’s lifelong love of politics was more important than bedtime. That runs in the family.
• Contact Charles Corder at 581-7241 or ccorder@gwcommonwealth.com.
