DENVER—Even as stage-managed an event as a political convention can sometimes manage to upstage conventionality.
A sweeping kiss. A white ferry boat with patriotic bunting. A late vice presidential pick.
Here are some moments in convention history:
—WEE-HOURS ORATORY: Most people never heard Democrat George McGovern’s acceptance speech in 1972. He didn’t deliver it until nearly 3 a.m. McGovern was stalled by a long roll call for the vice presidential candidate in which votes were spread among scores of candidates.
—WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?: Abraham Lincoln barely edged out Sen. William Seward of New York to gain the Republican nomination. At the 1860 convention in Chicago, Lincoln didn’t get the majority of votes on the first two roll calls. And on the third, he was just 1 1/2 votes shy of becoming the nominee. He only won the nomination after Ohio moved four votes his way, which led other states to shift, too.
—THE SMOOCH: Al Gore didn’t just kiss his wife. He realllllllly kissed his wife. After wading through delegates and giving high-fives, the 2000 Democratic nominee reached the podium where he grabbed his wife, Tipper. He planted a long kiss on her lips in a dipping embrace that was far from the average candidate-pecks-wife-on-the-cheek moment. Gore said the kiss was spontaneous, not meant to show he could loosen up.
—CULTURE WAR: In 1992, losing GOP contender Patrick Buchanan injected a dark note into the first President Bush’s convention proceedings with a speech that invoked “a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America—it is a cultural war.”
—SMOOTH SAILING: Talk about a splashy entrance. John Kerry came by boat to Boston, the site of the 2004 Democratic convention. The former Navy officer arrived in the city on a white ferry decorated with red, white and blue bunting. It was flanked by Coast Guard speed boats mounted with machine guns as it passed the FleetCenter convention site. Kerry saluted and gave thumbs-up to the crowd. Bruce Springsteen’s “No Surrender” played from speakers as the ferry docked.
—BALLOON BUST: Talk about a less than splashy exit. After Kerry finished his acceptance speech, the voice of a frustrated convention producer was heard by TV viewers as the blizzard of 100,000 balloons failed to materialize from the heights. “Go balloons!” the producer said, growing frantic. “I don’t see anything happening.” A profanity followed. Finally they all showered down.
—VEEP MYSTERY: Suspense over Ronald Reagan’s choice of a running mate in 1980 spilled into the Republican convention, ending finally at 11:15 p.m. on the Wednesday night of the proceedings, when George H.W. Bush got a phone call from Reagan: “Hello, George, this is Ron Reagan. I’d like to go over to the convention and announce that you’re my choice for vice president if that’s alright with you.”
“I’d be honored, Governor,” Bush said.
—DELEGATE DIVISIONS: The 1924 Democratic convention in New York City lasted 17 days with delegates voting in 103 roll calls before picking John Davis. Davis was just one of 16 nominated. The party was mostly split between New York Gov. Alfred E. Smith, who was backed by urban delegates, and William Gibbs McAdoo, a Californian with rural support. McAdoo finally withdrew. Davis reached second place on the 100th ballot and eventually took the nomination after getting a bump from urban delegates.
—THE BIG SPLIT: Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft mounted an epic struggle for the Republican nomination on the floor of the 1912 convention in Chicago, a contest so bitter it split the party and prompted the loser, Roosevelt, to bolt and run as a Progressive. Democrat Woodrow Wilson beat both of them in the election.
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