And that's one thing that hasn't changed. The Democrats were the innovators then and now. Kennedy was only the second Catholic nominated for president and, as it turned out, the first to win. Joe Lieberman is the first Jew to be nominated for vice president by a major party. Still, elections are about presidential nomionees, usually, not their running mates.
Conventions give nominees that chance.
George W. Bush, most think, made pretty good use of his. Now it's Gore's turn.