POLITICAL CONVENTION

in U.S. politics, a meeting of party delegates at the local, state, or national level to select candidates for office and to decide on party policy. The conventions, as representative organs of the parties, may also elect executive committees of the parties and adopt rules governing party organization. In practice they also act as rallies for the election campaigns that follow. Before the institution of conventions in the 1830s, parties decided on candidates and policies in informal caucuses. Conventions were introduced to eliminate the abuses of the caucus system; they were expected, by their open and public conduct of business, to be more democratic and less amenable to control by party bosses and machines. However, most of the real business of conventions has been conducted in informal meetings of various delegates and leaders; activity on the floor of the convention has usually been merely a reflection of behind-the-scenes decisions and compromises. In order to lessen this control by party oligarchies, candidates for most elective offices at the state and local levels are now nominated by direct primaries rather than conventions, although conventions still play an important role in endorsing party candidates. National party conventions are held every four years to nominate candidates for president and vice president and to adopt a national platform. At first, voting strength in both conventions was apportioned among the states according to their electoral-college vote, usually two convention votes for each of the state's electors. For its 1916 convention, the Republican Party adopted rules curtailing the representation of congressional districts in which the Republican vote was light. Both parties later began giving bonus votes to the states carried by the party in a previous election. Each convention begins by electing a convention chairman and a rules committee, adopting convention rules, and checking delegate credentials through a credentials committee. Thereafter, party platforms, prepared by a special committee, are debated and voted upon by the delegates. Although nominations of candidates are the work of the convention as a whole, the growth of presidential primaries increasingly limits conventions to ratifying the candidate already selected by the voters. Candidates are nominated in eulogistic speeches; noisy demonstrations are then staged, with bands and marchers hired for the occasion parading up and down the aisles; and eventually the convention votes. The roll of states is called alphabetically, and the vote of each state delegation is reported by its chairman; if necessary, the delegation is polled, each delegate being asked to openly declare his vote. Although many contests have been settled on the first ballot, the taking of several ballots is common. In the late 20th century the great majority of Republican and Democratic delegates have been selected through primaries. Most of the delegates elected in primaries are bound to vote in a way that reflects the voters' choice, at least on the first ballot. A candidate who has won enough delegate votes in the primaries can be certain of nomination on the first ballot. This reduces the power of party leaders and favourite-son candidates to broker delegate votes to candidates in exchange for political favours. Their bargaining strength has also been lessened by the public-opinion polls that measure the strength of the candidates and show their support by regions and demographic groups. The convention seeks to run a candidate who can win, and the polls are persuasive assessments of a candidate's viability. If primaries and polls do not make the nomination a foregone conclusion, they at least eliminate all but the serious contenders before the convention. The nomination of a vice-presidential candidate, frequently one chosen by the presidential nominee in consultation with party leaders, follows the selection of the presidential standard bearer. At the final convention session the nominees make acceptance speeches that usually spell out the major campaign platforms. The national conventions are nationally televised and receive a great deal of attention. Local and state conventions perform similar functions, but the rules governing their composition and proceedings vary from state to state. The tendency has been toward greater uniformity in such procedures. The national conventions have been criticized throughout their history as undemocratic spectacles. Critics have proposed replacing them with some form of national presidential primary. Defenders argue that, besides promoting party unity and enthusiasm, conventions allow compromise, and they tend to nominate candidates and take positions that represent the political mean rather than the extremes. Because a president must be able to win-over party leaders as well as the public to function in office, supporters of the system claim that it is a better test of how a candidate will perform.