Ho-hum conventions

by David Grand
August 12, 2004

That's what they've become in recent years with a party's presidential candidate usually being nominated on the first ballot; unlike the clamorous and emotional ones of the past when selecting the nominees were hotly contested, resulting in lengthy balloting, a la Stephen Douglas (D) being chosen on the 59th ballot in 1860, Woodrow Wilson(D) on the 46th ballot in 1912, and John W. Davis(D) on a record 103rd ballot that stretched over 16 days in 1924 (who would later gain his greatest fame in arguing the losing side in Brown v. Board of Education).

The only thing that's unique in this year's conventions is that it's the first time the Democrats ever held one in Boston, and likewise for the Republicans holding theirs in that modern day Babylon, that home of sin and abomination, New York City. As tumultuous as past Democratic conventions held there have been, it's no wonder it took the GOP so long to brave going to that city and understandably so. For it is and always been a Democratic stronghold, where Mondale beat Reagan by half a million votes, where Dukakis crushed Bush, Adali Stevenson stomped Ike twice, and McGovern whipped Nixon. (Chicago is the most popular site for conventions of both parties, with 26 held there since Lincoln was nominated in 1860. It must be because of the cold winds coming off of Lake Michigan that serve as a pleasant relief from all the hot air emitted in the speeches at the conventions.)

As regards the acceptance speeches of the party's nominee, they are usually too long and filled to overflowing with the oft-repeated promises and slogans used in their campaigns. And John Kerry's was no exception, droning on as he did for 50 minutes and spitting out his words like bullets from a machine gun. (I  was afraid to go to the fridge, for fear I'd miss him saying something new.)

And the keynote speeches are, more than not, just as tiresome and uninspiring. But there are a few of 'em that are permanently etched in my memory. The most recent one being that blockbuster performance of Barack Obama, who held the conventioneers and TV audience spellbound with his rich baritone voice and his ability to turn the right phrase. A new star was born in the political arena, and I'm glad I was there to witness it.

After he finished speaking, I bounced out of my couch and cheered at the TV, something I haven't done since Mario Cuomo electrified the audience (without a teleprompter) at the 1984 Democratic convention; and when in 1980, Ted Kennedy had the audience jumping up and down like Jack-in-the-boxes with his stirring words promising better days ahead for the party, if it stays true to its time-honored beliefs.

But when it comes to lively conventions, the ones I recall most vividly were the Democratic convention in 1948, when Strom Thurmond and his followers stormed out of the hall in protest to the strong, civil rights plank in the party's platform; and at the 1968 convention, when bedlam erupted in the hall because of Mayor John Daly having ordered the Chicago police to take aggressive action to quash the demonstrations against the Vietnam War, which led to several days of rioting. Thankfully, his son, the current mayor of Chicago, didn't inherit his irascible nature.

And I say a pox on all the houses of the TV networks for limiting their coverage of the Democratic convention to one hour a night, while the cable-news channels covered it nightly for the full three hours. No wonder the networks' viewers dropped to 13.4 million from 17.6 million in 2000, with the cable audience doubling what it was in 2000. I guess the networks decided that it was more important that we learned of the latest developments in the Scott Peterson and Kobe Bryant trials.

Will I watch the upcoming Republican love-in next month? Of course I will, if for no other reason than to see whether it's also as well choreographed and scripted, to determine whether the networks are as evenhanded in the time that's allocated to that convention, and if the number of balloons dropped at its climax outdoes the Democrat's display. Wouldn't it be terrible if the nets didn't open? That would certainly deflate the crowd's upbeat mood.