First, there is a massive disparity between the coverage this subject is getting now and what it got in 2008 during the epic Democratic race for the nomination. If ever there was going to be a brokered convention in the modern era, that was the year. There were two candidates with extremely strong and demographically different followings, both of which would have represented historical firsts if nominated.
Most people don’t realize that, because “super-delegates” were not officially committed, Barack Obama technically went into that convention without enough votes to ensure the nomination (a fact my wife, a public school teacher, actually got in trouble for sharing with her class because it somehow upset an Obama-supporting student). He had also been crushed in three of the last four major primaries and had diminished the delegate numbers from two major states which his opponent had won. And yet, despite the reality that this easily could have been turned into a grand drama by the media and that they would have benefited greatly from this narrative, nary a word was spoken about it. The few supporters of Hillary Clinton who even dared raise the issue were treated as if they had peed in the prom punch bowl.
There is probably no greater testament to the true love and devotion which the media felt for Obama in 2008 than the fact that they gave up a golden opportunity for a brokered convention in order to protect the momentum of the Chosen One.
Conversely, here early in 2012, there is already absolutely no hesitation on the part of all factions of the media to fantasize about how exciting a contested convention could be for the Republicans. It is obvious why the liberal mainstream media, desperate for a way to manufacture re-election for their guy, has taken this position, but this has also been especially true among significant parts of the conservative media as well.
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