tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/democratic-national-convention-91053/articlesDemocratic national convention – The Conversation2021-01-20T18:07:02Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1526742021-01-20T18:07:02Z2021-01-20T18:07:02ZJoe Biden’s inaugural address gives hope to the millions who stutter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379791/original/file-20210120-13-daeqrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C24%2C3986%2C2643&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Joe Biden delivering his inaugural address on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-joe-biden-delivers-his-inaugural-address-on-the-news-photo/1297453223?adppopup=true">Alex Wong/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/20/us/inauguration-protests-parties/we-must-end-this-uncivil-war-biden-pledges-unity-in-his-inaugural-address">called for American unity</a> after four years of political divisiveness and the “raging fire” it provoked. He promised to be a president for all Americans. “I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did,” he said.</p>
<p>It was a message of hope and optimism. And while his intent was clearly to speak to all of America, his speech spoke in a different way to a particular community. <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/bidens-stutter-how-a-childhood-battle-shaped-his-approach-to-life-and-politics/">The new president stutters</a>, and his speech, made with the whole world watching, was a powerful example to those millions of Americans who, like me, stutter.</p>
<p>When I was 11 years old, my speech-language pathologist told me: “Look, John Stossel (the television personality) stutters, and he speaks beautifully. You will be able to do that, too.” </p>
<p>My therapist was trying to motivate me, but the message was that my goal should be to speak perfectly.</p>
<p>For me, that was not the case. By age 14, I already knew my stuttering was not going anywhere. Although I’m a fairly strong communicator, I continue to experience <a href="https://doi.org/10.4102/hsag.v11i1.215">stuttering – a neurological condition</a> that impacts the fluent, forward flowing production of speech. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/decker/contact/profile.html?id=rgabel">Like me</a>, roughly <a href="https://www.stutteringhelp.org/faq">1% of the world’s population stutters</a>. That translates to more than 70 million people worldwide and over 3 million people in the United States, including <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/01/joe-biden-stutter-profile/602401/">Biden</a>. </p>
<p>Biden’s experience with stuttering is a compelling one. What inspires me is the way he talks about his experience as a person who stutters. For people who stutter, the presidential campaign, Biden’s election and his inauguration mark an important change in how we discuss stuttering. </p>
<h2>A need for understanding</h2>
<p><a href="https://stutteringtreatment.org/addressing-the-stigma-of-stuttering/">People who stutter</a> often <a href="https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2009/07/21/People-who-stutter-suffer-discrimination/28301248151690/">suffer discrimination</a> at work, as students and in social relationships. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/isad9/papers/rice9.html">Several studies</a> show that the general population knows very little about stuttering. Many Americans also believe that people who stutter are less intelligent, less competent and more anxious. </p>
<p>Although I was surrounded by good friends, it felt very lonely to be a child who stutters. I was bullied and teased by my peers. People imitated how I spoke, interrupted when I was talking and even laughed when I stuttered. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, most role models were not helpful. <a href="https://www.wknofm.org/post/remembering-how-mel-tillis-overcame-stuttering-be-country-music-star#stream/0">Mel Tillis</a>, the American country singer who used his stuttering as part of his stage persona, and Porky Pig, a cartoon character who stuttered, were the targets of jokes.</p>
<p>My goal became clear around my fifth birthday: I must find a way not to stutter. </p>
<p>Today, many children who stutter receive this message, although there is no “cure” for stuttering. Therapy and group support can help. But for many, stuttering requires attention for their entire lives. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379107/original/file-20210116-23-1fp972h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C53%2C2901%2C1630&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Joe Biden speaks at the 10th Annual American Institute For Stuttering gala." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379107/original/file-20210116-23-1fp972h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C53%2C2901%2C1630&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379107/original/file-20210116-23-1fp972h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379107/original/file-20210116-23-1fp972h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379107/original/file-20210116-23-1fp972h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379107/original/file-20210116-23-1fp972h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379107/original/file-20210116-23-1fp972h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379107/original/file-20210116-23-1fp972h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Joe Biden speaks at the 10th Annual American Institute for Stuttering gala in New York on June 6, 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/vice-president-of-the-united-states-joe-biden-attends-the-news-photo/538513904?adppopup=true">Mike Pont/WireImage via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Biden stands up to bullies</h2>
<p>Biden has spoken about <a href="https://www.stutteringhelp.org/content/joe-biden">his struggles with stuttering</a> during speeches for the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mlkpb08Zh8">National Stuttering Association</a> and the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpYWwsjLABo">American Institute for Stuttering</a>. </p>
<p>But he had spoken sparingly about his stuttering in the mainstream media until his campaign for president began in 2019. Throughout the campaign season, President Donald Trump and his surrogates began <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/trumps-daughter-law-lara-taunts-161108544.html">seizing on hesitations</a> and other characteristics of Biden’s speech.</p>
<p>During the campaign trail, Trump called Biden “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGZD7-El4xE">Sleepy Joe</a>” and said he was out of touch. He said <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-biden-dementia-getting-worse-campaign-gaffes">Biden suffers from dementia</a>. These insults were due partially to Biden’s age but also to the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/video/trump-speech-today-slur-joe-biden-stutter-maga-rally-las-vegas-a9352036.html">differences in his speech</a>. </p>
<p>Biden responded to former <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/20/sarah-sanders-joe-biden-stutter-088555">White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders</a>, who mocked his stuttering during a 2019 Democratic presidential debate. </p>
<p>“I’ve worked my whole life to overcome a stutter. And it’s my great honor to mentor kids who have experienced the same. It’s called empathy. Look it up,” <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1207868810247757824">Biden said</a> via Twitter. </p>
<p>During a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/05/politics/joe-biden-stutter/index.html">CNN town hall</a> in February 2020, he said he continues to stutter when he is tired. </p>
<p>This was good for me to hear, and I believe good for other people who stutter. Talking about stuttering, instead of trying to hide it, is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0094730X18300597">an important part of coping</a>. </p>
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<p>Biden also chose <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08/21/brayden-harrington-joe-biden-dnc/">Brayden Harrington to speak</a> at the virtual Democratic National Convention. Harrington, a teenager who stutters, <a href="https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/nh-boy-with-special-bond-with-president-elect-biden-he-just-continues-to-inspire-me/2226878/">shared how Biden had helped him</a> in 2019 by telling him it was OK to stutter. </p>
<p>He also shared how the former vice president continued to stay in touch. “Joe Biden cares,” Harrington said during his speech. </p>
<p>To me, it felt as if stuttering was finally being discussed in public and in a positive manner.</p>
<h2>The first president who stutters</h2>
<p>Certainly, Biden’s election as president matters for many reasons. </p>
<p>I suspect there have been more news articles and opinion pieces about stuttering published in major newspapers in the past 18 months than in the prior 18 years. </p>
<p>This is important because it raises awareness of stuttering and helps those in the stuttering community feel connected with others who also stutter, thus helping all of us understand their struggles. </p>
<p>Biden is an important role model because he has begun to talk openly about stuttering and because he has demonstrated that one can still stutter while communicating well and achieving astonishing goals.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152674/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rodney Gabel is a member of the National Stuttering Association and a member of the Board of Directors for the International Stuttering Association.
</span></em></p>Joe Biden’s presidential campaign and his inauguration mark an important change for the roughly 3 million people in the United States who stutter.Rodney Gabel, Professor and Founding Director, Binghamton University, State University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1448402020-08-21T13:35:10Z2020-08-21T13:35:10ZJoe Biden appealed to 2 different audiences in his acceptance speech – 2 experts discuss which punches landed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354002/original/file-20200821-24-1p39w3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Biden accepts the Democratic nomination on Aug. 20, 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Election2020DNC/45b3d8ca849e4c2695e16c188d8f6bf3/photo?Query=DNC%20AND%20Biden&mediaType=photo,video,graphic,audio&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=112&currentItemNo=8">AP Photo/Andrew Harnik</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>“Give people light,” Joe Biden said, beginning his acceptance speech at the conclusion of the Democratic Party’s online convention on Aug. 20. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_8f2YBX97OMC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=Cynthia+Young&ots=ImF7eq72B0&sig=2WaVResy5xPs6riUsomjUnOYi1k#v=onepage&q=Cynthia%20Young&f=false">Cynthia Young</a>, a professor of African American studies at Penn State University, and political scientist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=mqaLBqMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Todd Shaw</a>, of the University of South Carolina, offer their analysis of the address.</em></p>
<p><strong>1. What did you think of the speech?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Todd Shaw:</strong> It was a very good speech that Biden delivered effectively. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/20/us/politics/biden-presidential-nomination-dnc.html">The speech</a> could have been awkward. Biden is a veteran politician known for his gaffes who spoke to a virtually empty auditorium. There was no raucous applause punctuating his sentiments. But I found his speech crisp, evocative and full of passion. It was his version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-fireside-chat-provided-a-model-for-calming-the-nation-that-president-trump-failed-to-follow-133473">a fireside chat</a>. And there was no mistaking that the two presidents Biden referenced in his remarks – Franklin Roosevelt and Barack Obama – are the Democratic models he wants to use in assembling a Biden-Harris electoral coalition. </p>
<p>As an obvious nod to Black women who are the most loyal constituency of the Democratic party, Biden used a quote from <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/live-blog/dnc-live-updates-day-4-schedule-speakers-livestream-n1237321/ncrd1237607#liveBlogHeader">“a giant of the civil rights movement,” Ella Baker</a>, to frame the core theme of his speech – “Give the people light, and they will find a way.” </p>
<p>Throughout the speech, Biden drew “light versus dark” contrasts with Trump. Biden painted himself as presidential and Trump as not. Biden said he would be an “American president” who leads and protects all of this diverse nation but especially the “middle class” and “working class.” Trump, if reelected, will only defend his base, the 1% elites, and sow further division and ugly animus, Biden said. Biden promised to tackle COVID-19, systemic racism, the economic crisis and the environmental crises. Biden paraphrased Michelle Obama, saying Trump will only make things worse.</p>
<p><strong>2. Democrats wanted a candidate who could unseat Trump. Did Joe Biden seem like that candidate?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Cynthia Young:</strong> To my surprise, he did. Biden can be oddly and sometimes inappropriately gruff. He is <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/01/joe-biden-stutter-profile/602401/">a former stutterer</a> who sometimes stumbles over his words. He’s in his late 70s so he often speaks in aphorisms straight out of Mayberry USA. Tonight, he left much of that baggage behind, giving a masterful performance that was strong, resolute and even hopeful. In a historical moment defined, in his words, by a global pandemic, economic collapse, climate change and racial unrest, Biden had to acknowledge and empathize with the public’s suffering and convey a sense of hope and possibility. In short, he had to present a contrast to the current president.</p>
<p>As professor Shaw noted, Biden opened with the words of Ella Baker and portrayed himself as an “ally to the light” and this election as a fight for the “heart and soul of this nation.” Like him, the argument was old-fashioned and familiar, but Biden’s delivery and his personal biography – <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/17/biden-contemplated-suicide-after-1972-deaths-wife-daughter-397487">his wife and baby daughter were killed in 1972</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/31/us/politics/joseph-r-biden-iii-vice-presidents-son-beau-dies-at-46.html">his son Beau died of a brain tumor in 2015</a> – sold it. He spoke movingly of his grief and despair. Just as he had recovered from tragic loss, a Biden presidency would bring the U.S. out of “this season of darkness.” Biden would redeem others because he, himself, had been redeemed. </p>
<p>This hopeful message stood in stark contrast to his tough, no-nonsense, frontal attack on the president. As Trump was rage tweeting during his acceptance speech, Biden accused Trump of thinking the presidency was “all about him.” He attacked the president’s handling of the pandemic and a crumbling economy and described Trump as “cozying up to dictators.” The Biden campaign is betting on optimism over pessimism, square-jawed patriotism over narrow-eyed self-interest. </p>
<p><strong>3. Biden was attempting to appeal to a broad range of voters. What kinds of voters do you think he likely reached the most?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Young:</strong> Throughout these last four nights, the convention has engineered a delicate balancing act, appealing to independent and disaffected Republicans on the first night and on subsequent nights, to the party’s traditional base: Black and brown women, immigrants and union workers. </p>
<p>Biden’s speech seemed designed to appeal to two primary audiences – older, Black women-identified voters and white, working-class voters. For the first audience, he name-dropped Ella Baker, Barack Obama and George Floyd, reminding viewers that his vice presidential pick Sen. Kamala Harris’ story is “the American story.” Together he and Harris would broker a racial truce, heal our collective “racial wounds.” It was not a story I found particularly convincing, given <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/what-joe-biden-hasnt-owned-up-to-about-anita-hill">Biden’s part in undermining Anita Hill</a>, during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, but there is a swath of liberal voters who will want to believe it. </p>
<p>More likely to land is Biden’s appeal to the white, working class, and the men and women who like his Irish Catholic father derive their “dignity from a paycheck.” Promising to secure Social Security and Medicare, Biden vowed to put workers before the wealthy, to fight hard for everyday people so that a person is only limited by their “dreams and god-given abilities.” To me, Biden’s pitch seemed to depend upon a faith that white workers who have bought into Trump’s racist policies could be won over to the Democrats by arguments about economy security.</p>
<p>Hillary Clinton made the same wager <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/12-days-stunned-nation-how-hillary-clinton-lost-n794131">and lost</a>. It’s a different moment now, with nearly 6 million people in the U.S. contracting COVID-19 and over 1 million people filing for unemployment benefits last week. Perhaps the punch that landed most squarely tonight was this one: “We will never get our economy back on track. We will never get our kids safely back in schools. We’ll never have our lives back until we deal with this virus.” This November’s election will be a moratorium on whether the return to normalcy that Biden promises by getting the coronavirus under control outweighs the privileges of whiteness that Trump continues to defend.</p>
<p><strong>4. Was there something you were hoping to hear from Biden that he didn’t address?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Todd Shaw:</strong> Biden nicely articulated his version of a progressive policy with regards to public health, the economy and the environment. But young Black voters and other young progressives may criticize Biden for not referencing any specifics as to how he will tackle “systemic racism” beyond his citing the history he made by picking Sen. Kamala Harris to be his running mate. For instance, Biden made several references to the aspirations of young people, especially the millions who led or joined the spring 2020 Black Lives Matter uprising sparked by the police killing of George Floyd. Biden even recalled the touching words George Floyd’s little girl shared with him at Floyd’s memorial, “My Daddy changed the world.” </p>
<p>However, Biden did not recite the mantra of “Black Lives Matter.” He did not use the term “police” or “policing reforms” or “police brutality.” I am certain this will only add fuel to the concerns some younger voters have with Biden’s record and agenda. Some have already challenged the prosecutorial background of his running mate, Harris. Beyond this speech, the Biden-Harris campaign will have to consider whether the big electoral tent they want to construct will mobilize young Black and other voters, thus modeling the Obama-Biden coalition. </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144840/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two scholars react to Biden’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.Todd Shaw, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of South CarolinaCynthia A. Young, Department Head and Associate Professor of African American Studies, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1416632020-08-17T14:04:47Z2020-08-17T14:04:47ZPandemic alters political conventions – which have always changed with the times<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352987/original/file-20200814-24-1q6h3uy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5455%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The spectacle at the 2016 Republican National Convention will not be repeated in 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-GOP-2016-Convention/bf9bd72b6b984c18b8063c488f8bfc2b/9/1">AP Photo/Matt Rourke</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Politics, like everything else in American life, is being reshaped by the pandemic and by technology. <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/democrats-unveil-wide-ranging-speaker-schedule-virtual-convention/story?id=72303837">Democrats held almost all of their 2020 nominating convention virtually</a>. Republicans have not moved their convention online – <a href="https://www.charlotteagenda.com/227800/what-to-expect-with-the-scaled-back-rnc-in-charlotte-this-month/">delegates will still attend the event</a> in Charlotte, North Carolina – but it will be significantly scaled back. </p>
<p>Most notably, President Donald Trump will give his renomination acceptance speech at another location – <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/23/us/politics/jacksonville-rnc.html">first planned to be in Jacksonville, Florida</a>, but which <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/politics/trump-rnc-speech-white-house/index.html">now might be at the White House</a>, or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/10/trump-gettysburg-republican-national-convention-nomination">possibly the Gettysburg battlefield</a>, but which <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/us/politics/trump-rnc-speech.html">could theoretically happen anywhere</a>. </p>
<p>These technological adaptations signal a permanent shift in the way nominating conventions meet and the way voters watch them – but it’s not the first time such radical changes have come to politics.</p>
<p>Technology has driven change in the presidential nominating process since the earliest days of American parties. This is a lesson I learned while researching 19th-century party politics for my book, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511750748">The Nationalization of American Political Parties, 1880-1896</a>.” America’s current party organizations were built as party leaders used new technologies to make their proceedings more attractive to voters and their candidates more appealing. </p>
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<h2>The caucus system</h2>
<p>The first nominating process was not a convention at all. In an age of horse-drawn carriages on muddy dirt roads it could take more than a week – in good weather – <a href="http://dsl.richmond.edu/historicalatlas/138/a/">just to cross large states like New York</a>. Travel was expensive and unreliable, making large gatherings of people separated by great distances unworkable. So the earliest party nominations in 1796 and 1800 happened when <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/presidency-of-the-United-States-of-America/Selecting-a-president#ref792989">members of Congress started consulting in informal meetings called caucuses</a> to select nominees before returning home for fall campaigns. It was an efficient means of achieving party unity under the circumstances. There was, however, <a href="https://theconversation.com/political-conventions-today-are-for-partying-and-pageantry-not-picking-nominees-142246">little room for voter involvement</a>.</p>
<p>Between 1800 and 1830, states built better roads and canals. Travel times were shortened, and the cost of travel shrunk. The Post Office, <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/postal-service-act-regulates-united-states-post-office-department">established in 1792</a>, delivered printed material cheaply, subsidizing a booming national press. Americans were able to gather across vast distances, had better information and depended less on word of mouth from political leaders. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352989/original/file-20200814-20-sk2zan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People gathered in a large auditorium with a stage." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352989/original/file-20200814-20-sk2zan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352989/original/file-20200814-20-sk2zan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352989/original/file-20200814-20-sk2zan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352989/original/file-20200814-20-sk2zan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352989/original/file-20200814-20-sk2zan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352989/original/file-20200814-20-sk2zan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352989/original/file-20200814-20-sk2zan.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An engraving of the 1860 Democratic convention in Charleston, South Carolina.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/00652812/">Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper/Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The rise of conventions</h2>
<p>With better informed citizens, the caucus system was in disarray by the 1820s. It was fully discredited in the eyes of many voters and political elites in 1824 <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/United-States-presidential-election-of-1824#ref1113452">when less than half of the members of the Republican party caucus attended the meeting</a>. <a href="https://millercenter.org/president/jqadams/campaigns-and-elections">Multiple nominees were instead selected by state legislatures</a>, creating a crisis of legitimacy for the dominant <a href="https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mjm&fileName=05/mjm05.db&recNum=591">Republican party</a>, which historians now refer to as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Democratic-Republican-Party">Democratic-Republican party</a>.</p>
<p>In 1828, Andrew Jackson won the presidency, based in part on a nomination from the Tennessee state legislature. After his victory, he engineered <a href="https://www.loc.gov/rr/main/polcon/democraticindex.html">the first national convention of a major party in 1832</a>, at which the Jackson faction of the Republican party called itself the Democratic party. </p>
<p>The convention did not officially re-nominate Jackson, but it did choose his running mate, Martin Van Buren. In the process it demonstrated that a national convention could in fact gather larger numbers of delegates, who themselves represented a larger number of voters, and could therefore be more democratic.</p>
<p>This convention model dominated American politics for the next hundred years. </p>
<p>Convention sites followed the progress of American transportation networks westward. The first six Democratic national conventions were held in Baltimore due to its convenient location and its position on the border of slave and free states. But as railroads made travel less expensive, the parties moved west. In 1856 Democrats convened in Cincinnati, in 1864 in Chicago, and in 1900 in Kansas City, Missouri. </p>
<p>Republicans met in Chicago as early as 1860 and as far west as Minneapolis by 1892. To appeal to different regions, both parties moved their conventions every four years – a tradition maintained to this day.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352992/original/file-20200814-18-atwdmh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man gives a speech." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352992/original/file-20200814-18-atwdmh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352992/original/file-20200814-18-atwdmh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352992/original/file-20200814-18-atwdmh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352992/original/file-20200814-18-atwdmh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352992/original/file-20200814-18-atwdmh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=993&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352992/original/file-20200814-18-atwdmh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=993&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352992/original/file-20200814-18-atwdmh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=993&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Franklin Roosevelt accepts his party’s presidential nomination in person at the 1932 Democratic convention in Chicago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Associated-Press-Domestic-News-Illinois-United-/7b97a801fae6da11af9f0014c2589dfb/168/0">AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Conventions in the 20th century</h2>
<p>Another technological shift came in 1932, when Franklin Roosevelt became the first major party nominee to address a convention in person. </p>
<p>Until then, custom dictated that the nominee stayed home under the pretense of not being too ambitious for office. Some months later, a committee of delegates would visit the nominee to “inform” him of his candidacy. Only then did the nominee give brief prepared remarks and start actively campaigning. </p>
<p>Roosevelt blew through that custom by catching a plane from New York to the Democratic convention site in Chicago and <a href="https://www.fdrlibrary.org/dnc-curriculum-hub">addressing the delegates the day after his nomination</a>. “Let it be from now on the task of our party to break foolish traditions,” Roosevelt intoned, before calling for a “new deal.” </p>
<p>Traveling to Chicago was not just a metaphor for Roosevelt. By dominating the attention of the convention at precisely the time voters were paying attention to it, FDR signaled his intention to not only be a nominee of the party, <a href="https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_united_states_history/99/">but the leader of the party</a>. And it made his transformative political message part of the news.</p>
<p>Television further changed the conventions. For much of the 19th century, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/02/04/contested-presidential-conventions-and-why-parties-try-to-avoid-them/">presidential nominations were contested by multiple candidates</a>, causing difficult convention battles; the 1924 Democratic convention went through 103 rounds of balloting before settling on John W. Davis.</p>
<p>Starting in 1948, conventions permitted television cameras, which reduced the incentives for endless ballots. Instead, conventions became <a href="https://theconversation.com/political-conventions-today-are-for-partying-and-pageantry-not-picking-nominees-142246">visible celebrations of party unity</a>. </p>
<p>In 1972, the parties started using primary elections to select delegates pledged to vote for specific candidates, so the delegate count was publicly known <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/%7Edguber/POLS125/articles/piroth.htm">before the conventions were gaveled to order</a>. Conventions became days-long infomercials for the nominee. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352986/original/file-20200814-14-f28qo9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A crowd of people in straw hats wave signs at a stage." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352986/original/file-20200814-14-f28qo9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352986/original/file-20200814-14-f28qo9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352986/original/file-20200814-14-f28qo9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352986/original/file-20200814-14-f28qo9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352986/original/file-20200814-14-f28qo9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352986/original/file-20200814-14-f28qo9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352986/original/file-20200814-14-f28qo9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">At the 1968 Democratic convention, people wore straw hats and waved signs to indicate which candidate they supported.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/democratic-party-members-holding-placards-in-support-of-news-photo/1208801316">Archive Photos/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Unconventional conventions</h2>
<p>The pandemic has struck at just the right moment for another technological shift. Network television news – the medium through which most 20th century conventions were viewed – <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/05/fewer-americans-rely-on-tv-news-what-type-they-watch-varies-by-who-they-are/">commands less voter attention</a>. </p>
<p>Moving the convention spectacle online allows the party to control their message more effectively – as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/01/politics/rnc-charlotte-press/index.html">Republican efforts to exclude journalists from the proceedings highlight</a>. </p>
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<p>Democrats recorded some speeches in advance, allowing the party to release focused content compatible with the pace and packaging of social media. As voters share and comment on that content, <a href="https://www.demconvention.com/get-involved/">using official party social media graphics and Zoom screens</a>, it could nurture a sense of party identification, and of virtual participation. </p>
<h2>What comes next?</h2>
<p>The GOP’s wavering between different locations, and the Democrats’ reliance on remote speakers, will lead some to ask whether a centralized convention is even necessary. In the future, why not have multiple convention sites across the country, with multiple political figures speaking to smaller physical audiences? </p>
<p>Events like that could enable the party to target narrow groups of voters more effectively. As parties experiment with the <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90537463/the-democratic-convention-can-be-anything-this-year-we-asked-designers-for-their-wildest-concepts">potential of digital technologies</a>, it seems likely that they will find some of them more attractive than cavernous convention halls and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-straw-boater-the-unofficial-hat-of-political-conventions-1469033845">outdated swarms of straw hats</a>.</p>
<p>But that approach would have disadvantages. Social media spectacles would eliminate spontaneous reactions from delegates that give home viewers a sense of the mood – whether dissension from the party line, contagious enthusiasm or even the striking power of a memorable speech line. Democrats have acknowledged that the online format in 2020 <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democrats-head-to-convention-united-against-trump-but-expecting-conflict-once-the-election-is-over/2020/08/15/a6754a88-de41-11ea-809e-b8be57ba616e_story.html">will deprive supporters of Bernie Sanders the stage they had in 2016</a>. As much as specialized events might draw in some voters by targeting narrow groups, they might also allow parties to create more divisive appeals in ways that evade broader scrutiny. And virtual conventions can make it easier for party leaders to obscure proceedings from journalists and the public.</p>
<p>It’s not yet clear how this moment will reshape nominating conventions. But party leaders will adapt to the technological opportunities it presents, and find new ways to make conventions work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141663/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Klinghard has in the past received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. </span></em></p>This year’s technological adaptations may signal a permanent shift in the way nominating conventions meet and the way voters watch them – but it’s not the first time.Daniel Klinghard, Professor of Political Science, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1439632020-08-10T12:08:50Z2020-08-10T12:08:50ZDemocratic, Republican parties both play favorites when allotting convention delegates to states<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351424/original/file-20200805-164-1wkgme7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=280%2C412%2C4535%2C2357&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Politics is a push-and-pull between the parties and the states.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/elephant-and-donkey-divided-map-of-america-royalty-free-illustration/683847434"> Samuil_Levich/iStock/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the Democratic and Republican parties pick their nominees for the presidency, they’ll do so under a delegate system that rewards states for their partisan loyalty – and ignores the common principle of everyone having an equal say.</p>
<p>Consider these examples: Texas, home to 28.9 million people, will have 228 pledged delegates at the Democratic National Convention. New York, with two-thirds the number of people, at 19.5 million, will have more pledged delegates – 274. This inequality extends to less-populous states as well: Arizona’s 7.3 million residents will be represented by 67 pledged delegates, while Maryland’s 6 million people will have 96 pledged delegates.</p>
<p>It’s similar with the Republican National Convention. Ohio, with a population of 11.7 million, will have 82 delegates, while Pennsylvania – home to 12.8 million people – has just 34. Oregon’s 4.2 million people have 28 Republican delegates, one fewer than either of the Dakotas, which each has well under a million residents.</p>
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<p>Only delegates can vote on party decisions at the conventions. This situation makes it harder for either party to attract independents, who make up <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/05/15/facts-about-us-political-independents/">about one-third of U.S. voters</a>. If leaders in especially blue states get a disproportionately higher number of delegates than those in purple or red states, they will have more power to control which Democratic Party member is nominated, what the platform will be and what the rules will be for awarding states delegates the next time. It’s a similar story in the GOP for particularly red states, whose leaders will get more power over Republican decisions than people from swing states or states that tend to vote for the Democratic Party.</p>
<h2>Big differences in voting power</h2>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3y3BVcEAAAAJ&hl=en">I</a> divided the pledged delegates assigned to each state by the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/02/10/799979293/how-many-delegates-do-the-2020-presidential-democratic-candidates-have">Democratic National Committee</a> and the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/elections/results/primaries/republican/">Republican National Committee</a> by the <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/us-states-by-population.html">states’ populations</a>, and found some staggering disparities. </p>
<p>For the Democratic Party, the District of Columbia received 28.34 delegates for each million residents, while Texas had 7.86 delegates per million people. A D.C. Democrat’s voice has 3.6 times the power of a Texas Democrat, which is the widest disparity in that party.</p>
<p>But that’s nothing compared to the situation in the Republican Party. Wyoming received 50.1 delegates per million residents, compared to 2.66 delegates per million residents for Pennsylvania. The GOP’s widest disparity gives a Wyoming Republican a voice that is a whopping 18.9 times as powerful as a Pennsylvania Republican.</p>
<p>That’s far more even than the Electoral College disparity, in which <a href="https://theconversation.com/electoral-college-benefits-whiter-states-study-shows-142600">Wyoming gets four times more electoral votes</a> per person than Florida.</p>
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<h2>Why such a difference?</h2>
<p>The parties’ <a href="https://www.bustle.com/articles/141622-how-many-delegates-does-each-state-get-the-answer-is-165-pages-long">rule books</a> for delegate selection are quite extensive. The <a href="https://prod-static-ngop-pbl.s3.amazonaws.com/media/documents/2016%20PRESIDENTIAL%20NOMINATING%20PROCESS%20BOOK_1443803140.pdf">RNC book</a> is 40 pages long, while the <a href="https://demrulz.org/wp-content/files/12.15.14_2016_Delegate_Selection_Documents_Mailing_-_Rules_Call_Regs_Model_Plan_Checklist_12.15.14.pdf">DNC rules</a> go on for 165 pages. </p>
<p>It comes down to more than just population. <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Democratic_delegate_rules,_2020">Democrats have a formula</a> for delegates that includes how the state voted in the last three presidential elections, the state’s number of Electoral College votes and when the state holds its primary. </p>
<p>The Republican system gives each state three delegates per congressional district, 10 at-large delegates, and three more delegate spots – to be taken by party leaders from that state. The GOP also <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Republican_National_Convention,_2020">gives states “bonus” delegates</a> if they voted for the Republican nominee in the previous presidential election, and if they have Republican governors and U.S. senators, and if there are Republican majorities in state legislatures and U.S. House of Representatives delegations. </p>
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<p>Both of these systems, in different ways, reward states where the party is strong, at the expense of party members in states that are more evenly divided or could be stronger.</p>
<p>If your state votes solidly blue or bright red, you’ll have more power over that national party. Perhaps that’s why parties are becoming more extreme; the delegate allocations mean the Democratic Party is dominated by the most liberal states, while conservative states own the Republican Party. That leaves even less of a voice for states that are ideologically moderate, hurting party outreach efforts.</p>
<h2>Effects on the public</h2>
<p>Of course, the political parties can argue that they are private groups who can determine their own governance however they wish. But that power is not absolute.</p>
<p>In the early 20th century, the Texas Democratic Party sought to exclude Blacks from voting in its primaries. A <a href="https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/archive/html/vce/features/0503_01/smith.html">series of Supreme Court decisions over two decades</a> culminated in a 1944 ruling declaring that state laws establishing party primaries made the Texas primary <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/321us649">more than just a function of a private organization</a>. Instead, those laws made the party’s primary a key component of the electoral process, and therefore the party could not exclude Blacks from participating.</p>
<p>Beyond being unequal, these systems hurt parties’ ability to reach moderates. When New Jersey Democrats get more delegates than Georgians, despite having a smaller population, the party is less likely to select candidates who appeal beyond the die-hard faithful, who are more likely to be found among New Jersey’s delegates. It’s the same for Republicans, where the Alaska GOP has more than 10 times the delegates, proportionally speaking, as California’s GOP. </p>
<h2>A fairer future?</h2>
<p>There may be improvement on the horizon: Democrats are <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/democratic-national-convention-rules-committee-super-delegate-reforms_n_5f231143c5b6a34284b824b7">debating their delegate system</a> for the 2024 primary. They are considering whether to continue limiting the power of superdelegates, determining what should happen to the delegates of candidates who drop out and encouraging diversity among party leaders.</p>
<p>And GOP state conventions <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/virtual-gop-convention-reveals-party-at-odds-with-its-governor/ar-BB16UH6N">like the one this year in Texas</a> are having a conflict over who will represent the party at the national convention and in the Electoral College. The question specifically is about whether rank-and-file party members will dominate, or whether the process will be opened up more to independents, libertarians and other nonmembers.</p>
<p>So long as their most loyally partisan states have such disproportionate influence over candidate choices, party platforms and even the rules for delegate allocation, neither party will be at its best for reaching swing states or independent voters.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143963/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John A. Tures does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Internal party rules make it harder to attract independents, who make up about one-third of US voters.John A. Tures, Professor of Political Science, LaGrange CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.