by Mark Rhoads
Over a period of 17 days from June 24 to July 9, 1924, the longest poltical convention in American history took place at Madison Square Garden in New York. After a marathon of 103 ballots, John W. Davis, a little known former Congressman and Solicitor General from West Virginia, was nominated for President by the Democratic delegates after supporters of other candidates just got tired and started leaving New York to go home. Now that was a "brokered convention."
Political journalists of 2008 think that "a brokered convention" is the worst thing that could befall the Democratic National Convention when it meets in Denver in August. Why? Most politcal conventions before the TV age assembled without a pre-determined nominee. In those days when primaries were far fewer, the delegates did their job which was to represent the voters from their districts. Circumstances change. Primary voters who voted a half year before the convention might have a change of heart in light of later news and they would be foolish to lock in a decision on their delegates who might want the flexibility to correct a mistake.
There is nothing wrong with a so-called "brokered" convention with lots of give and take and negotiations. Some good presidents in American history came from such conventions. Abe Lincoln was not the first-ballot choice of most Republican delegates in 1860 when they arrived at the Wigwam near Wacker and Market (now Lake Street). William H. Seward was the front runner when the delegates arrived in Chicago. Lincoln was the Illinois favorite son. Lincoln supporters used dirty tricks like counterfeiting tickets to pack the hall with Chicago Republicans yelling for Abe. They kept Seward delegates in seats widely separated from other friendly delegations. They hired professional cheer leaders to shout for Lincoln. The Seward men could not even get into the convention hall because Lincoln supporters with their counterfeit tickets got to the hall first first and took all the chairs.
At the end of the third ballot, Lincoln had 231 and one-half votes. He was just one-half vote short of the nomination when Ohio switched four votes to Lincoln from Salmon P. Chase and Lincoln won the nomination. It wasn't pretty, but it was democracy at work.
If Hillary Clinton gets caught in lies about Bosnia, or if Barack Obama gets caught in a misinformtion campaign about how close he was to Rev. Wright, delegates need and deserve the flexibility to adapt to new circumstances. If voters back in their states want to punish them at a future election, they can. The Democrats have 20 percent of their delegates who are not elected anyway--the so-called supers who were elected to office for some other purpose but who want to go to the convention without facing the voters on thier presidential preference. Let them earn their keep for a change and make decisions. They might not choose either Obama or Clinton and turn to someone else. That is their right.
