And They’re Off!

The last “brokered” national political convention in this country, the Democratic convention of 1952, took three ballots to nominate Adlai E. Stevenson. No convention since has been entrusted with any work more important than ratifying a choice made in the primaries, although the 1976 Republican convention came close. Yet for three decades, pundits hung on to the dream. At the start of every election season we would hear the cries: “Maybe this time, finally we’ll get a political convention with some politics in it.” Maybe. Oh, please.

This year, however, the pundits are too smart. They aren’t going to have their dreams dashed again. They’re grown-ups. There is no tooth fairy, and modern political conventions, they declare, are to the electoral process as the Rose Parade is to football.

FM

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Fred Mann

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Presidential Election

The last “brokered” national political convention in this country, the Democratic convention of 1952, took three ballots to nominate Adlai E. Stevenson. No convention since has been entrusted with any work more important than ratifying a choice made in the primaries, although the 1976 Republican convention came close. Yet for three decades, pundits hung on to the dream. At the start of every election season we would hear the cries: “Maybe this time, finally we’ll get a political convention with some politics in it.” Maybe. Oh, please.

This year, however, the pundits are too smart. They aren’t going to have their dreams dashed again. They’re grown-ups. There is no tooth fairy, and modern political conventions, they declare, are to the electoral process as the Rose Parade is to football.