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From Super to Final Tuesday
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14622 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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5 / 1988 |
3,005 Words |
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Bill Whalen
Bill Whalen covers the campaign trail for Insight Magazine. |
There are two places to go these days for a serious discussion on brokering. One is a Wall Street office, the other is the Democratic presidential campaign's back room.
With approximately half its delegates already committed and no one candidate having made a clean break to the front of the pack, the Democratic Party seems destined to hold a brokered convention this summer in Atlanta. That's the conclusion one gets after examining what's left of the primary season.
There is an important distinction to make when discussing the possibilities of a brokered convention. First, the candidates themselves could do some horse-trading and pick their own candidates for president and vice present. This doesn't seem very likely, since there are plenty of hard feelings in what already has been a campaign of bruised egos.
The more likely scenario is for a third party--former Ambassador Robert Strauss and Democratic Chairman Paul Kirk are two names being tossed about--to mediate between the candidates. Either way, expect the Democrats to have a nominee before the convention begins. The last thing they want is a bloodbath that spills over onto network television.
A recent trend in presidential elections has been for voters to take their time before settling on the Democratic nominee. In 1976 for example, Jimmy Carter emerged after the final primary in California with only 85 percent of the delegates he needed to "go over the top" at the convention. Similarly, in 1984, Walter Mondale emerged from California still shy of the magic
... (1968 of 17914 Characters)
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