1996 POLITICAL CONVENTIONS AND PERSONALITIES Th

This paper covers and discusses the 1996 Republican and Democratic National Conventions and some of the personalities there present. In general, both conventions were gigantic duds to

1996 POLITICAL CONVENTIONS AND PERSONALITIES

This paper covers and discusses the 1996 Republican and Democratic National Conventions and some of the personalities there present. In general, both conventions were gigantic duds to which the public largely tuned out because of the conventions' pre-programmed and banal nature and the lack of any real excitement or lively debate at them on the issues. The most interesting personalities to emerge at the conventions were not the presidential candidates whose views were well-known, but their running mates and their wives. Jack Kemp and Al Gore were showcased to advantage for the next presidential campaign. There were also interesting comparisons and contrasts between Hilary Clinton and Elizabeth Dole. Ross Perot was nominated by the Reform Party in a convention which drew even less interest than the major conventions and presaged his decline as a third party candidate. Despite many favorable demographic trends and skin deep public enthusiasm for Bill Clinton, the Republicans appear to have succeeded by their maladroit actions in Congress and during the campaign in guaranteeing the re-election of the President.

The Conventions in Historical Context.

The national political convention of the Rep

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nversion of the conventions into pre-cooked spectacles of the soap opera variety was caused by several developments: (1) the domination by television of political conventions and campaigns leading to "the final metamorphosis of political conventions into TV productions" (Zoglin 22); (2) the replacement of the conventions as the forum for nominating presidential and vice-presidential candidates by the pre-convention party caucuses and state primaries. Wilentz says that "party potentates have been emasculated, and the selection process has been front-loaded to pre-convention state primaries and caucuses. . . the conventions are gigantic foregone conclusions" (20); and (3) the confluence of main stream positions of the two major political parties. Indeed, there was considerable question as to whether the delegates at the conventions were representative of the country as a whole. Twenty percent of the 1,990 delegates to the Republican convention admitted to being white millionaires and only 56 blacks were delegates (Fotheringham 56). At the Democratic convention, the large interest groups which financed the party such as the unions and the employees of public bodies made up most of the delegates. Ross Perot's Reform Party Convent
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3388
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)