When is the last time there was a brokered "smoke filled room" convention for either party?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

I guess the system of actual ELECTIONS to choose nominees was not always in place and the nominees used to be primarily picked by party poo-bahs? (whew there's some alliteration for ya..)

I don't know when the transition to our current setup happened.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. The last time the GOP had a brokered convention was 1948 and for the Democrats, it was 1952.

http://lonestartimes.com/2007/12/12/a-brokered-convention/

[Bicoastal]

2. 1968 was the catalyst, I believe.

But go on Wikipedia to make sure.

[fascisthunter]

3. Corporate America Has Made Our Political Party More Exclusive

so we "little people" have less say in the outcome of our elections. And corporatists/fascists wonder why they are so despised.

[David in Canada]

4. The Current Primary System

The current primary system has been in place since 1972. Prior to this, the majority of convention delegates, Republican and Democrat, were selected by the party machines.

A common trick in many of the states with primaries were to run "favorite son" candidates so the party bosses had essentially a placeholder so they could use their state's delegates for leverage. The last year with these "favorite son" candidates was in 1976 where the Chicago machine of Richard Daley ran Sen. Adlai Stevenson III in the Illinois primary and WV Sen. Robert C. Byrd ran and won West Virginia.

The backdoor wrangling can, in theory, still occur. The system for doing so is in abeyance as the convention process has been rendered effectively moot due to a de facto nominee chosen well before convention selects a nominee. In other words, the convention voting has been reduced to a perfunctory process. While reduced to a mere recondite ritual, the votes need to be formally cast in order to meet the legal criteria for said nominee to be placed on the respective states general election ballot.

The last party convention without a pre-ordained nominee was the 1976 Republican National Convention. Incumbent President Gerald R. Ford narrowly defeated Ronald Reagan on the first ballot. The last convention with multiple ballots was the 1952 Democratic National Convention albeit a close call occurred in 1968 due to the slew of effectively uncommitted delegates due to Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's assassination. Ultimately, the big machine leaders that controlled a hefty portion of the delegates settled on Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

6. Aha, I did not understand the meaning or origin of the "favorite son" term before, thanks!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

5. Thanks for the great answers, everyone. Very fascinating and informative.

I really need to find a great book or two on the history of this.

[CorpGovActivist]

7. MM: Are You Still in Boston/Cambridge?

If so, and if you have time to do it, I could rec some great courses to audit.

Alums can audit most classes.

- Dave

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

8. Many miles away, unfortunately.

[CorpGovActivist]

9. ???

Job? Family?

If you prefer not to answer publicly, no worries.

Hope all is well tho.

- Dave

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

10. I haven't lived in the area since college. I did visit last year though, and I was

really surprised, in a weird way, how the campus was essentially completely unchanged after all these years.

I did see how there was going to be a big change to move Quad houses across the Charles to Allston in 2015 or so.

[CorpGovActivist]

11. The Tasty

R.I.P.

: (

- Dave