ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, August 22, 1996 TAG: 9608220013
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Ray L. Garland
SOURCE: RAY L. GARLAND
IN PACKING his bags before the end of the Republican convention, Ted Koppel said, in that ponderous way he has, "This convention is more of an infomercial than a news event. Nothing surprising has happened, nothing surprising is anticipated."
The three major networks seemed to be just going through the motions, and did so with as little grace as possible. None spared time for former President Ford, and ABC cut George Bush off in midpassage. All agreed something had to be done about the tedium of national conventions. After all, giving the two major parties 10 hours of air every four years to display their wares was a terrible imposition. Besides, they drive people to the Weather Channel by the millions.
Many asked if conventions would ever again settle anything important. There are lots of reasons why it will be hard for that to happen, including the proliferation of primaries and the fact that money dries up for those who don't do well in the early contests.
One thing is clear, the present system hardly permits any candidate not a billionaire to be competitive in 42 primaries and assorted conventions. Dole locked up the nomination in March, after less than a third of the nation had voted, but had already spent most of the money the law allowed. Those who spent the next few months pooh-poohing Dole might reflect that he won 39 of 42 primaries, garnering 8 million votes or 59 percent of those cast. This was the second-best record for a contested nomination since primaries became a major factor in 1952.
The founding fathers did not contemplate either political parties or conventions, which is why they devised the Electoral College. The idea was that property-owning males would elect reliable citizens as electors. They, in turn, would make sensible choices for president and vice president. But the taste for political faction that George Washington loathed was integral to human nature and did not take long to manifest itself. By 1800, both parties were using the congressional caucus to nominate their candidates.
The first political convention as we know it was held in 1832 when Democrats met in Baltimore, responding to a call issued by the New Hampshire legislature. It might surprise Ted Koppel to learn that the national convention was viewed as a great reform, a way "to concentrate the opinions of all the states." It was and has been a uniquely American event.
It is now the fashion of fastidious souls to look down upon the two-party system as it has operated through these conventions for 164 years. All I can say to them is compare the outcome with all other nations, especially those with multiparty systems.
There is nothing very unusual about a convention ratifying the obvious. Of the 36 Republican conventions from 1856 to 1996, 26 required only a single ballot. The last GOP convention where the outcome was in some doubt was 1976, when President Ford narrowly turned back a challenge by Ronald Reagan. Before that, you go back to 1952 to find any doubtful outcome.
The Democratic record is somewhat different because from 1832 to 1936, a nominee required the votes of two-thirds of the delegates. Still, assuming Clinton makes it in Chicago, 26 of the party's 42 conventions needed just one ballot, and only eight required more than five. But some of those were doozies. The record was established in 1924, when 16 days and 103 ballots were required to nominate John W. Davis, who lost almost 2-to-1 to Calvin Coolidge. This might illustrate the old superstition that "hot" conventions make for bad politics.
So many great lines have been spoken at conventions as to require a book. My favorite of those I personally heard is from 1948, when Sen. Alben Barkley, an old-fashioned Kentucky courthouse politician, roused the delegates from their defeatist lethargy and won a place for himself on President Truman's ticket with such gems as "What is a bew-row-crat? A bew-row-crat is a Democrat who holds a job that some Republican wants."
There wasn't anything that good at San Diego. Wittiest goes to Rep. Susan Molinari, who began her keynote by saying, "This speech is a lot like a Bill Clinton promise. It won't last long, and it will sound like a Republican." That may have been topped by B.D. Ayres, a reporter for The New York Times, who described an interview with Jack Kemp as "words pouring out ... like a dictionary going through a corn sheller."
David Broder, perhaps the most objective among major figures of the press, thought Dole's acceptance speech was so full of contradictions "as to undermine his reputation for integrity." Certainly, there were inconsistencies, such as Dole's silence on abortion that contrasted with his strong anti-abortion record. And several false notes, as when he called attention to his age of 73 without making the point that experience can be valuable in a president. As one pundit said, he left out the last 35 years of his life.
But Dole had moments of rare eloquence, as when he said the party of Lincoln could have no truck with bigotry, inviting those who could not accept that to make for the exits, "which are clearly marked." And of daring, as when he challenged the teachers' unions: "If education were a war, you would be losing it."
And Dole even included a word I had not encountered in a lifetime studying the English language. He said he was content "to see my own story subsumed in great events." Look up subsumed; it doesn't exactly mean submerged.
For a party not holding the presidency, a convention is the one chance in four years to have its chosen leaders deliver a sizable message to a sizable body of citizens. Is that too much to ask?
Those who say history is no longer made at conventions aren't paying close attention. The mere fact that so few people sat through the whole show and the near-absence of vigorous attacks on the opposing party reflect changes in our national character of considerable historical importance. But something happened in San Diego, or why would the race suddenly be competitive? If Dole goes on to win, will Koppel still say "nothing surprising" happened there?
Ray L. Garland is a Roanoke Times columnist.
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS PRESIDENTby CNB