America's Bizarre, Brawl-Filled History of Contested Conventions | Rolling Stone

[pokerfan]

This was a fascinating read....

America's Bizarre, Brawl-Filled History of Contested Conventions

Decades before what could be a wild GOP convention this summer, Robert Taft was marching a baby elephant through a hotel lobby

Every presidential election cycle, political pundits bay for a contested convention. For younger electoral observers, it's partly the novelty of the idea; the last party conventions with any real drama took place in 1976 for the Republicans (Ronald Reagan v. Gerald Ford) and 1980 for the Democrats (Jimmy Carter v. Ted Kennedy), long before any millennial — journalist or otherwise — was following politics.

The parties have since made mighty efforts to avoid such unpleasantness and have largely succeeded, until this most unusual of election years. Now, with the possibility looming that neither Donald Trump nor Ted Cruz will win the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the GOP nomination outright, it seems the Republicans may have the first real convention drama in a generation.

Below are four tales from contested conventions, which are sure to stoke the blood lust of any 2016 political observer. Read these stories and it becomes clear why both parties have gone out of their way to avoid contested conventions and why the punditry is so keen to see one: These things get crazy, and occasionally downright violent — and the "winners" very often lose the general election.

But first, a quick semantic note: A brokered convention happens when no candidate is selected on the first ballot at the convention, and then deals are made by power brokers behind the scenes until some candidate is able to win the necessary votes; no convention of this kind has occurred since 1948 for the Republicans and 1952 for the Democrats, largely because power brokers no longer exert much influence over large blocs of delegates in either party. The below are contested conventions, which occur when the outcome isn't certain as a result of the primaries, but the winner is determined on the first ballot.

More: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-bizarre-brawl-filled-history-of-contested-conventions-20160407

[Warpy]

1. That's why I keep saying I hope the fistfights are on camera

because we all know they'll happen at the RNC. I'm not quite as sure about the DNC, our violence tends to be more verbal than physical at this point.

[world wide wally]

2. The crazy part is that the news channels will do everything possible to increase the

likelihood of physical violence and then refuse to show so they won't offend the viewers.