The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1876-06-28
Conventions;

CURIOUS STATISTICS CONCERNING CON
VENfIoNs AND THE TWO
THIRDS RULE.
1t is sometimes said that under
the two-thirds rule a candidate who
goes into the convention with only {
majority Of the votes is almost Ger
tain to be slaughtered after the first
ballot. This is a mistake. Twice
within recent years the Democracy
have set aside their original favorites
and given the nomination to a mar
who was not named at all on the frs
ballot; bat for about the space of 8
generation (leaving aside these two
exceptional cases) it has invariably
happened that the candidates who
showed the highest poll at the open
ing Of the convention carried off the
prize Of the Democratic nomination
at the end.
In the Convention of l84S the num-
Der of votes necessary to a choice was
TO, and the first ballot stood: Cass,
l25; Woodbury., So; Buchanan, So
On the second Mr.. Cass had 1873; on
the third be had 1866; and on the
fourth he was nominated with III.
In 1852 Mr.. Cass led the list with
III, Mr.. Buchanan coming next with
50, and the contest continued with no
material change until the thirty-fifth
ballot, when Franklin Pierce appear
ed for the first time, having Is votes.
The whole number of votes was 2S8.
On the forty eighth ballot Pierce had
55; Cass, 70; Buchanan, %; Douglas
(who started with 2o) SO, and Marcy
(who started with ~ 80. Pierce
was nominated on the forty-ninth
ballot, getting all the votes except 6.
In 1856 Mr.. Buchanan led at the
opening with 1856 votes, against Mr.
Pierce's 122, Douglass 50, and Cassj
5, the whole number cast being 296.
There were II ballots on this occa-
sion, in the course Of which Pierce's
strength soon ran itself out, while
Buchanan and Douglas almost stead
lily gained: Mr.. Douglas at last
withdrew, the figures on the fifteenth
ballot standing: Buchanan, 1853; Dou-
glas, 121; Cass, 6. In 1860 the posi-
tion Of the Democracy was peculiar.
The first meeting of the Convention
held at Charleston was failure, and
after fifty.seven fruitless ballots, in
which Mr.. Douglas distanced all his
competitors, his vote starting at 1854
and running up to 152 (Which was so
less than the requisite number the
Convention adjourned to Baltimore.
When it re,assembled Mr.. Douglas
had 1874 votes on the first ballot and
1917 on the second, and was then de-
clared nominated, the secession Of
many of the Southern delegates rem
dered it impossible for any one to
obtain two thirds Of all the delegates
authorized to vote. In the Demo
cratic Convention of 1864 General
Mcclellan began with 174 votes, T.
II. Seymour having SO and Horatio
Seymour IL, but before the result
was declared enough Of the delegates
changed their votes to give McClel.
Ian 2O2a and so nominate him. III
1868 occurred the second of the ex.
ceptional cases to which VIC have re.
ferred. Mr.. Seymour got no votes
at all until the fourth ballot. and then
had only 9, after which he was drop
ped until the last, the convention Fl.
nally going for him on the twenty.
second ballot in the manner Of 6
stampede. The fortunes Of the othe,
candidates were curious. At the be
ginning the count was: Pendleton
l05; Andrew Johnson, Is; Hancock
334;; Hendricks, %; whole number O
votes 3l7. Mr.. Pendleton ran ut
slowly to 1861, and ON the seven
teeuth ballot had gone down again t.
oot, "nere ne was dropped. Han
cock began to gain after the 18th
and eliminated in the 18th witt
l44a. Hendricks gained fast and al
most uninterruptedly, and Audrey
johnson lost with almost equal ra
pidity. The figures on The Dist bal
lot were, Hancock, 1851; Hendricks
1872. In 1872 the Democracy ha,
only to accept the nomination of th
Liberal Republicans. In 1852 whel
Pierce was nominated, and in 1856,
when Seymour was nominated, it vii
be observed that none of the othe
Democratic candidates succeeded il
obtaining at any time a bare MAORI