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 Gone are the days of exciting political conventions
by Tom Campbell
August 28, 2008
I don’t know about you but I miss the political conventions of the 1960’s. Perhaps you can remember being glued to your black and white television as they called the roll of states. Those were the times when our family kept a score sheet counting delegate votes to see who was ahead. It was great fun to hear state after state respond, “Mister chairman, the great state of North Carolina, home of the first flight, Venus flytraps and plot hounds, casts its votes for the next president of the United States…..”
Television was in full bloom, broadcasting the conventions wall-to-wall; coverage started around noon and continued well into the night, with only a dinner break. There was great debate and often fights over planks in the party platform, who the nominee would be and especially who would be the running mate. This was high drama.
The three networks sent their best and the competition to be first with interviews of big name politicians was every bit as keen as the Olympics. Nothing was better than watching CBS’ Walter Cronkite, Harry Reasoner, Eric Severeid, and young reporters Charles Kuralt, Roger Mudd and Dan Rather. Huntley, Brinkley and Chancellor on NBC were alright, but I can’t even remember the crew from ABC. The coverage was wonderful even before Pauline Frederick, Andrea Mitchell, Barbara Walters, Dianne Sawyer or Coke Roberts cracked the glass ceiling for women. Some of the broadcasts, especially the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, still bring memories.
This year’s coverage leaves me cold, but I did reminisce over an old Teddy Kennedy and loved the Obama children trying to talk to daddy in the rear projection screen. The parties have hurt themselves with orchestrated productions. Even with so many TV choices, the coverage isn’t compelling. Cable and TV networks feel that conventions have become a week-long infomercial and they are being manipulated into being pawns for the parties. The cable guys have just shifted their 24 hour news cycle coverage to the convention instead of the normal fare they discuss ad nauseum. The networks have determined that wife swapping or supernannies are more likely to attract viewers than convention coverage, so they don’t even start live coverage until ten or so. A couple of nights of this and I just tuned out.
Maybe we need to return to the days when the outcomes were not predetermined, when the platform mattered, and when the big names of the party were everywhere glad handing and brokering votes. Or maybe we just need to eliminate this political dinosaur. But the carefully staged and managed shows, accompanied by high dollar receptions and lackluster coverage isn’t satisfactory to this political junkie. I know I’m getting pretty advanced when I find myself longing for the good old days. If I start telling you how I had to walk five miles to school uphill in the snow both ways, you have my permission to quit reading.
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