Roles Of Political Delegations Compared To Past Conventions

Many things about national political conventions have changed in a half-century, but few things have changed more than the lot of the delegate.

"It isn't what it was," admits Loras Schulte, an Iowa delegate to the Republican National Convention."There isn't the same excitement."

Certainly not for the 54-year-old computer consultant. He wasn't swilling bourbon or conspiring on a dark horse candidacy; he was sitting in his room at the Sheraton, catching up on some work.

Delegates go to parties, attend caucuses and wear funny hats. They cheer on cue, clap on demand and wave the signs they're given -- only the ones they're given.

But they don't really do anything. They can't. The candidates have been chosen, the platform written, the credentials approved.

Flash back to Chicago, 1932. New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt is fighting for the Democratic nomination. Aides at the convention have installed a private switchboard at the Congress Hotel with a direct line to Roosevelt in Albany and used coils and wires to rig a primitive speakerphone.

Individual delegates are invited to the hotel room to talk with Roosevelt. Briefed beforehand, FDR greets each by first name and with a reference to some previous meeting, common friend or other connection.

Episodes like this explain why one of the most powerful sensations at any national convention is nostalgia. Delegates have gone from political demigods to glorified cheerleaders -- extras in a made-for-television extravaganza.

Alabama delegate Marty Connors misses the old days, and he's only 47.

"I can't help wishing it was still really fun, that I'd have the candidates mowing my lawn," he says."I'd have loved nothing more than to be smokin' a cigar and makin' those decisions in that (smoke-filled) room."

So why be a delegate in 2004? Suddenly, he snaps to reality and enunciates the party line."You are part of the American democratic process, and the political parties are still incredibly important. Without them, the voters would be at the mercy of the media. That's not healthy."