What happens in the Republican National Convention?
Not a whole hell of a lot. In the old days, before past-paced telecommunications, exit polling, and constant media coverage, there often wasn’t a “clear” victor ahead of time, so the delegates would actually make speeches, cast votes, and eliminate candidates until someone won the nomination, which could take several ballots (at the Libertarian Party Convention two months ago, they actually did this: it took five ballots to establish a winner). The winner then gives an acceptance speech to close the convention. They would also vote to choose a vice-president, and vote to approve “planks” of the party’s platform for the coming election. However, these days the presidential candidate chooses his own running mate, and the party platform is established by a small subcommittee of each party that meets independently of the national convention. These days, all that really happens is people make speeches to support the presidential candidate, and the balloting and acceptance are simply pro for
