1952, however, no more than one ballot has been required to nominate presidential candidates of both parties.
Atmospherics at the 1996 Conventions
What was striking about both the Republican and Democratic conventions this year was the unspontaneous, bland and synthetic way in which the main events were presented. Calling them "America's festivals of deception," Jayre said "this was the first time I've heard so many speakers proclaiming what we know they don't believe" and that "both parties tried to suffuse their conventions with a Reaganesque glow, imitating his sunniness and confidence" (32). Ponneru says that "with the two parties' national conventions, America's political elites have wholeheartedly surrendered to the idiot culture. Politics has become degraded, and degrading, form of entertainment . . . productions [which] were bread and circuses for a citizenry deemed incapable of self-government" (33). Berke called the Republican convention "a meticulously choreographed pageant of unity" (G.O.P. A13). Lexington says that "both conventions w
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