Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years administered by the Democratic National Committee of the United States Democratic Party. As a national affair, the meeting is attended by delegates from all fifty U.S. states as well as delgates from American dependencies and territories such as Puerto Rico. Like the Republican National Convention, the Democratic National Convention marks the formal end of the primary election period and the start of the general election season.
The primary goal of the Democratic National Convention is to nominate and confirm a candidate for President and Vice President, adopt a comprehensive party platform and unify the party.
Nomination
Today, the party's presidential nominee is chosen in a series of individual state caucuses and primary elections. Due to the nature of how the caucuses and elections are scheduled, the party's presidential nominee is usually known months before the Democratic National Convention is gaveled to order. Historically however, the choice of the party's presidential nominee was usually not known until the last evening of the Democratic National Convention. The choice was an often contentious debate that riled the passions of party leaders. Delegates were forced to vote for a nominee repeatedly until someone could capture a minimum number of delegates needed.
Backroom deals by party bosses were normal and often resulted in compromise nominees that became known as dark horse candidates. Dark horse candidates were people who never imagined they would run for President until the last moments of the convention. Dark horse candidates were chosen in order to break deadlocks between more popular and powerful prospective nominees that blocked each other from gaining enough delegates to be nominated. The most famous dark horse candidate nominated at a Democratic National Convention was James Knox Polk who was chosen to become the candidate for President only after being added to the eighth and ninth delegate ballots.
History
The first Democratic National Convention was held in 1832. William Jennings Bryan delivered his "Cross of Gold" speech at the 1896 convention. The most historically notable convention of recent memory was the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, which was fraught with highly emotional battles between conventioneers and Vietnam war protesters and a notable outburst by Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley.
The most recent DNC was held in Boston, Massachusetts at the FleetCenter from July 26 to 29, 2004. The convention created traffic problems for the Boston area as cars were diverted around the proximity of the convention for security purposes.
See also: 2004 Democratic National Convention, List of Democratic National Conventions
