(12) How important are the national nominating conventions?

National conventions anowces the presidetial candidate, select policies and gain publicity and endorsement
1. Bill Clinton endorses Barack Obama, democratic Convention 2008.
2. Endorsement by "super delegates" - dem use them to add peer-review
formal and informal functions of NNC
1. Formal function
  1. Choosing the party's presidential candidate
    1. The conventions choose the party's presidential candidate in a roll-call vote, in which each state's delegates announce which candidate they wish to vote for.
      1. In the vast majority of delegates arrive at the convention " committed delegates". They are committed because of the primary or caucus
    2. The winning candidate must win an absolute majority
      1. Romney need just 1,144 out of 2,3286 Republican delegates
    3. It would be more accurate to say that the convention confirms - rather than chooses - the party's presidential candidate.
      1. Not since 1976 Republican convention has the choice of presidential candidate been in any doubt at the opening of either party's convention.
        In that year, Ford defeated the former Governor of California, Ronald Reagan, by 1,187 votes to 1,070 votes - if 60 delegates switched to Reagan would have won.
    4. If no candidate gains an absolute majority on the first ballot, balloting continues until one candidate does - delegates can vote for who they want at this point.
      1. This happened 8 times from 1896 to 1952
      2. Not the case from 1952 to 2012 - as the primaries perform the re-balloting function
  2. Choosing the party's vice-presidential candidate
    1. The convention's role in choosing the V-P candidate has also been lost in the three decades
    2. The convention is no longer even the forum for the announcement of the running-mate - the last convention at which a running-mating was announced was the Republican convention in 1988
    3. So making the modern day convention function lost
  3. Deciding the party platform
    1. It is put together by the platform Committee under direction of the party's National Committee. The Platform Committee holds hearings around the country during the first 6 months of the election year
      1. In 2008, the Dem's held more than 1,600 'listening sessions' in communities across all 50 states - 30,000 people took part
    2. The Repub's invited visitors to their website to "share your thoughts, participate in polls, and communicate directly with the policy-makers who will be shaping the party's agenda'.
    3. The National Committee then agrees to the draft platform, which is presented to delegates at the National Party Convention. More recently, however, parties have sought to avoid heated debates on policy issues at their conventions. The media often portray such debates as evidence of a divided party
2. Informal function
  1. Promoting party unity
    1. The primaries can turn into bitter personal battles, and it is vitual that internal party wounds are healed before the general election campaign begins. Divided parties are rarely winning parties. Convention - heal wounds
    2. At the 2008 Dem convention , the party portrayed a united front following the bitter rivalry between Obama and Hilary.
      1. Both Clintons endorsed Obama, Hilary "a proud supporter of Barack Obama"
    3. However examples of conventions not rebuilding party unity
      1. The 1992 Repub convention, Bush remained at loggerheads with his primary election rival, Pat Buchanan.
      2. The 1980 Dem convention, where Carter and Edward Kennedy continued there unfriendly rivalry - both defeat later in year
      3. 2008, Ron Paul refused to endorse McCain at the Republican convention and held a rival event across town
  2. Enthusing the party faithful
    1. It is vital that the party faithful in all 50 states feel enthusiastic and committed as they head home to fight for their party and candidate during the nine-week campaign. There will be meetings to organise, phone calls to make, literature to distribute and voters to transport to and from the polls, and they will be at the forefront of the organisation.
    2. The convention provide an idea opportunity to enthuse the party faithful through speeches as well as through appearances by the party's past champions and heroes. In 2012, an inspirational speech at the Dem convention by Clinton brought the delegates to their feet and clearly enthused the party faithful to return to their states and work fro Obama's re-election.
  3. Enthusing the ordinary voters
    1. As they are not present in the convention hall, this must be done through television. There is one golden opportunity to gain the attention of the ordinary voters during the convention and that is when the newly adopted presidential candidate delivers his acceptance speech
    2. Most voters will have paid little, attention to the primaries. Now that the candidates have seen selected and the policies finalised, voters may well tune in and take their first serious look at the party
    3. First impressions can be important - if first time - Bush had to intro himself more thoroughly to the US voters in his convention speech
What is a party platform and party plank?
1. There may be debates at the convention on various parts of the platform - know as "planks"
2. A statement of a party's policies for an upcoming presidential election that is used during the campaigning to win support from voters. It contains the policies that the party's candidate intends to pursue if elected presidents.
What's the "bounce" and why is it so important?
1. The "Bounce" is the increase in a candidates poll rating as compared with the last pre-convention poll
2. The inportants of post-convention "bounce" can be exaggereated. The post-convention polls signal the eventual outcome of the election only about half the time. "you can flip a coin and be about be predictive"
3. Barack Obama 08 +4
4. John McCain 08 +6
5. Barack Obama 12 +3
6. Mitt Romney 12 -1
Are National Party Conventions still important?
1. Yes
  1. Identify future winners
  2. "Elections may have become less newsworthy but they are still important" Stephen Wayne 2001
  3. The only time the national parties meet together
  4. Opportunity to promote party unity
  5. Opportunity to enthuse party members and activists
  6. Intro new vice-presidential candidates
  7. Presidential nominee's acceptance speech is key moment in campaign
  8. Can lead to significant post-convention "bounce" in polls
  9. Many voters don't tune into the campaign until the conventions start
  10. A significant number of voters make their decision during the conventions
2. No
  1. Recent opinion polls suggest voters doubt their important 12% rated NCCs as "extreme important
  2. Scripted
  3. Presidential candidate now decided during the primaries
  4. No second ballot at either convention since 1952
  5. Vice-presidential candidate now announced before the convention convenes
  6. Party platform agreed by the plarform committee before the convention
  7. Televison coverage much reduced

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(12) How important are the national nominating conventions?

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	Created by Marcus Danvers over 10 years ago