82 Politics and elections
politics are not free from these things, they have declined considerably in
importance. The power of the professional politicians has not evaporated,
but they have had to adapt themselves to new techniques and learn how to
live with the primaries.
The national conventions
American political parties are great coalitions of sectional, class and plural-
istic interests that come together for certain purposes, the most important
being to contest the election of the president of the United States. It is in
the national conventions of the parties that their most difficult task is per-
formed: the choice of candidates for the presidency. The peculiarities of the
national conventions can be understood only if they are seen as arenas in
which political parties, composed of very diverse economic and social inter-
ests, and embracing groups with very different views on domestic and foreign
policy, are forced to choose one person as their representative, to lead them
in the forthcoming election, and thereafter perhaps to wield the power of the
presidency. Thus the Democratic Party is composed of Southern whites and
Northern blacks, of automobile workers from Detroit and small business-
men from California, of Irish-American truck drivers from Massachusetts
and Spanish-speaking Puerto Ricans, together with millions of other Ameri-
cans across the continent. Yet only one person can be the standard-bearer of
the party and what it will stand for in the following years, at the presidential
level at least.
It is hardly surprising, then, that outwardly the national conventions
present a picture of bombast and ballyhoo, in which brass bands raucously
punctuate the proceedings, processions of banner-waving supporters and
attractive drum majorettes take over the floor of the convention hall in a
well-organised chaos, and speakers make vague appeals for party unity based
upon historical and emotional considerations rather than upon future policy.
Clearly, the problem that they are there to resolve is not one that can be
dealt with simply by calm reasoning and persuasive argument from the ros-
trum; it is the much more emotional problem of settling upon a leader whom
the vast majority of the party are prepared to follow. Behind the ballyhoo,
however, lies a long period of careful preparation for the convention, the ef-
fort by candidates to gain the support of important figures, the making of
bargains and concessions to waverers, the hard-headed political bargaining
which alone can bring order out of chaos.
National conventions are enormous affairs. There can be as many as 5,500
delegates at a national convention, as well as a host of reporters, television
crews and spectators. The delegates are chosen in a variety of ways. Some
are chosen in the presidential primaries and are committed in some degree
to the winners of the primary in their state. Others are chosen in state and
district conventions across the country by a variety of different methods. The
delegates to this lower level of conventions may be elected in primaries, or