National Convention
National conventions are part of the electoral process. National conventions have been held in August in recent election years, and they have to show both Republican and Democrat parties at their very best as the media coverage of these events is immense. Whether these conventions are a vital part of the American political structure, though, is open to debate.
In the past the two national conventions (held by both parties prior to a national election) were of great importance in that it would be at these events that the parties would announce who had won the ‘party ticket’ and would represent that party as the presidential nomination in a national election. His running mate as vice presidential candidate would also be announced.
Therefore the behind the scenes political intrigue at these conventions was at its peak so that vested interests got ‘their man’ as the party’s presidential nominee. This lead to clashes at a time when party unity had to be seen by the public as being at its peak. As a result of this both parties effectively know who their nominations are going to be by the time the national conventions convene. Such information can be easily gained from the stated political support registered at both local and state level in the primaries.
So what is the purpose of the national conventions? Historically, they are usually held in either July or August of the election year - though August was favoured by both parties in 2000. They have a number of purposes:
1. the official party candidates are announced to the public by both parties.
2. each party’s policy platform is announced. This is essentially what each party plans to do if elected by the people. These platforms are then adopted by the parties but they are not binding on either candidates or state parties.
The political ‘bloodshed’ spilt in the past has meant that conventions are now nothing more than a media event. In the recent past a national convention has served to highlight just how fragmented a party can be and this does not serve them well in the public eye. In 1960 the Democrat Party had a political certainty in J F Kennedy. The public image was perfect for the election in that year.
However, behind the public show of support, the Democratic Party was far from united at the time of the Democratic Party’s national convention. When Kennedy arrived at the convention, he did not have a majority of party delegates under his control and this only occurred after a lot of behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing. That he won the election (though in a very close result) says much about how the party kept this lack of outright support from the media and therefore the public.
Conventions such as the one involving Kennedy in 1960 are known as brokered conventions. This is a reference to the long hours of bargaining that take place behind the scenes by party bosses. As such a system is potentially damaging to a party if such disunity is leaked to the media, there has been a drive to have a clear cut candidate and running mate selected before the national conventions take place. However, if this has not happened (and the movement of the primaries to earlier dates might present the two parties with a problem in future) and no obvious candidate has come to the fore, the conventions might go back to what they were - the time when the party’s presidential candidate is voted for. This is not something that either party relishes as there will always be the potential for party disunity to surface with the added problems of media intrusion into the issue. What could be disastrous for one party could be invaluable to the other who would run a negative campaign along the lines of "Would you vote for a party that can’t make it’s own mind up? etc.
Negative campaigning is where a party concentrates its efforts not on publicising its own policies but on trashing the policies and personalities of the other party.
The most disastrous convention in recent history occurred in 1968 with the Democrats. The party nominee - Hubert Humphrey - had not won a single primary but was put forward as the party’s presidential nominee because he had the support of Lyndon Johnson, the incumbent but shortly to retire president. Outside the convention hall riot police fought with youths who wanted a candidate more sympathetic to their left wing views. The convention got more media coverage for the riots outside and the obvious problems selecting a candidate who had not been popular at a local level and had not won a single primary. The Democrats lost the election.
