5 Things to Know About Next Week’s RNC

Next week the RNC comes to C-town. Actually members have started drifting in for the rules and platform committees. A political convention is held every 4 years to “NOMINATE” a candidate. In recent years it is a coronation, not a nomination.

Here are five facts or insights into next week’s event that will have the eyes of the world on NE Ohio.

1. National conventions are governed by their own rules. Courts have been hesitant to get involved. Each convention makes their own rules just prior to the start of the convention. If a citizen, a delegate or a candidate does not like the RULES, there really is no one or no group to complain to that has authority to overturn a RULES decision. While a candidate may say an action is illegal, conventions are private entities that make their own rules.
2. Unprecedented is this fact. The two most recent GOP nominees for president will not be in attendance. At the very least it is unprecedented at the most it may be the first time in our history as a country that the most recent candidates are not present at this nominating convention. Some may think it does not matter that two “losers” are not present. It probably depends on one’s view of cultural institutions and the role of “presence.”
3. The most recent Republican president will not be in attendance. While we can chalk up Bush 41’s absence to age and health, Bush 43 is apparently healthy and choosing to skip the convention that twice nominated him for president.
4. In 2014 Congress disallowed taxpayer money from being used to pay for political conventions. When Cleveland won the bid to host the RNC, donors had to come up with the millions needed to put the event together. Paying for security is a gray area, probably paid by municipalities.
5. In 2016 the DNC has SUPER DELEGATES and the RNC does not. That will probably change by the next election. In 2020 look for the RNC to have SUPER DELEGATES and the DNC to have done away with the concept. SUPER DELEGATES were initiated after McGovern LOST so badly. SUPER DELEGATES are selected rather than earn their way to the convention. Their role is kind of to allow cooler heads to prevail.