A brokered convention for Democrats

Ken Concannon
Published: April 25, 2008

My mother-in-law, a lifelong Democrat, has been singing the praises of John McCain lately. Although she has never voted for anyone but a Democrat, she and her aged girlfriends, all Democrats, are all planning on voting for McCain this November. Why?  They’re assuming that the Democratic nominee will be either Hillary Clinton, who they find totally unlikable, or Barack Obama, who they suspect is a communist.  John McCain, to them, comes across much better than either Hillary or Obama.

Of course, it is conceivable that neither Hillary nor Obama will become the Democratic nominee.  Normally, the party’s nominee is decided through the primary process long before its convention actually takes place. Through the state primaries and caucuses, one candidate acquires enough pledged delegates (2024) to guarantee a win on the convention’s first ballot. In that case, with the nominee already known before the convention begins, the convention is primarily about formally anointing the chosen nominee and whoever he selects as his running mate, and setting the theme for the presidential campaign that will follow the convention. The only mystery revolves around whether Michael Moore will shave that week.

But not this year! The experts tell us that it is almost mathematically impossible for either of the two remaining Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, to acquire the needed 2024 delegates in the remaining primaries. With no nominee decided prior to the convention, this year’s Democratic convention attendees will participate in that political rarity — a “brokered convention.”

In a brokered convention, the party’s nominee is decided in a series of floor votes at the convention, usually preceded by negotiations among the party leaders and candidates. Pledged delegates will vote for the candidate to which their votes are pledged on the first ballot, but may switch their support to other candidates on successive ballots until one candidate receives a majority (2024) of votes.

The last brokered Democratic convention was 1952. Several candidates competed for the nomination, but after considerable wheeling and dealing the delegates on the third ballot elected a candidate,
Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, who entered the convention saying he was not interested in running for president. 

Stevenson was a witty, highly articulate intellectual who looked, sounded, and acted more like a university professor than a politician. He lost, in a popular and electoral landslide (442 to 89 electoral votes), to Dwight Eisenhower and the Republicans. Nominated again in 1956, Stevenson and the Democrats fell victim to Eisenhower’s successful bid for re-election, losing in another popular and electoral landslide (457 to 73 electoral votes).

All of this is interesting because it appears that history is about to repeat itself. My mother-in-law and her friends may very well have a choice other than Hillary or Obama.

The Democratic Party’s brokered convention this year could go for a “dark horse,” someone who has not sought the nomination — someone like Al Gore.

In the eight years since the former vice president last held political office, he has morphed into what some might consider to be an intellectual — a former politician, a Nobel Prize winner, who is above the fray of the political gutter. In the past few years, Gore has become not unlike Adlai Stevenson — which could be good for Republicans.

Then again, the Democrats brokered convention could decide to go for one of the candidates who has already dropped out of the race, e.g. Bill Richardson or Dennis “I’m not Pinocchio” Kucinich.  That would be entertaining too!

Ken Concannon is a resident of Prince William County. E-mail him at .