It's worse than this for very 2024 reasons but it's definitely bad: Democrats in the 20th century tried an open convention, to replace a president who was eligible to run again but tired, and lost to a slimy conman who they'd beaten before but who refused to go away because he was The Real America.
LBJ wasn't tired; he just read the writing on the wall. The situation was different, in part because the Democrats were deeply divided, which is not true now, in part because LBJ dropped out before, not after the primaries, and in part because the convention itself was a source of deep bitterness.
The Convention: LBJ and the Democratic machine (which was a real thing then but is not now) had handpicked Humphrey, over people who, unlike him, had actually won primaries, and THAT SAME MACHINE, in the person of Mayor Daley, had sent his police to beat up protesters.
read the intro to Hendershot's new one on the media and Chicago in 68. great stuff. (fun account at the old place too. among those i miss.)
news.mit.edu/2023/why-196...
OK, LBJ saw his time was up, we can agree. But Democrats are united behind a candidate no one in the coalition loves but everyone can stand. If you think 2024 Democrats won't create a bitter & deep division that lasts a generation if they hold an open convention...where's the window to place my bet.
