Flock to the mock

My alma mater, Westminster College, will hold its quadrennial Mock Convention Nov. 7-8. Normally, the convention is held in a presidential election year, but the front-loaded primary schedule has prompted WC to move it up to this fall.

The college holds its mock convention for the party out of power in the White House, so that means it's a Democratic convention this year. When I was a freshman, in 1992, I was the state chairman for Alabama, and the convention nominated the Paul Tsongas for president and Barbara Roberts, then governor of Oregon, as the candidate for VP. My brother, also a Westminster alum, participated in the 1980 convention (he is 13 years my senior), which nominated Gerald Ford for president and George H.W. Bush for vice president.

Going back to 1936, with no convention held in 1944 because of World War II, it appears that the convention nominated for president the candidate who actually got his party's nomination in 1952, 1956, 1968, 1972, 1976 and 1988. (Up through 1956, the convention was held for the Republican Party only.)

The "correct" VP candidate was nominated only twice, in 1956 and 1980. At the '92 convention, Roberts' nomination was spearheaded by the Oregon delegation.

Anyway, the mock convention is a great tradition. Unless you transfer in or out -- or manage to finish your degree in less than four years -- you are guaranteed to be a student during the convention. I have to wonder if anyone has the dubious distinction of having participated in two conventions as an undergrad. I suspect it is not something you would put on your resume.