The primary season has come and gone and we have arrived at the week that roughly a third of the nation has been waiting on, the week of the Republican National Convention. After what has been an extremely contentious primary season that saw Donald Trump, yes THAT Donald Trump, we finally find ourselves ready to make the nomination of Donald Trump official. I have often found myself fascinated at how our political conventions operate and how they work to fire up our nation for elections. I can still recall vividly watching the 1984 and 1988 Democratic conventions as a teenager and listening to Jesse Jackson dazzle the crowds at both conventions. The ability for a convention to energize a campaign is well established and pivotal to propelling a candidate to victory. The single biggest example that I can recall for this in my lifetime occurred in 1992.
In the Summer of 1992, George H. W. Bush was reeling from an economy turned sour, which is never a good sign for an incumbent seeking re-election. Gathering at the famed Madison Square Garden, the Democrats met to nominate Bill Clinton and Al Gore to the two highest offices in the land. At the time, Clinton was 45 and Al Gore was only 44 years old, making them one of the youngest presidential tickets in our nation's history. Considering the massive edge in experience that was held by their Republican opponent, the Democrats decided to highlight the energy and enthusiasm for the future of their Clinton-Gore ticket. Hands raised high with the music of Fleetwood Mac playing in the background, Bill Clinton found himself as the beneficiary of a double-digit bump in the polls.
Just as Clinton was able to do in 1992, Donald Trump and Michael Pence will be looking to energize their base and invite independent voters to migrate to their side en masse going into the fall election. Trump will be looking to regain a bit of the national footing that has been chipped away at in the past few weeks. A national convention is a perfect stage to do just that, so let's all just sit back and enjoy the spectacle that is about to unfold in Cleveland.
