Democratic National Convention

The Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years administered by the Democratic National Committee of the United States Democratic Party. As a national affair, the meeting is attended by delegates from all fifty U.S. states as well as delgates from American dependencies and territories such as Puerto Rico. Like the Republican National Convention, the Democratic National Convention marks the formal end of the primary election period and the start of the general election season.

Nomination

Today, the party's presidential nominee is chosen in a series of individual state caucuses and primary elections. Due to the nature of how the caucuses and elections are scheduled, the party's presidential nominee is usually known months before the Democratic National Convention is gaveled to order. Historically however, the choice of the party's presidential nominee was usually not known until the last evening of the Democratic National Convention. The choice was an often contentious debate that riled the passions of party leaders. Delegates were forced to vote for a nominee repeatedly until someone could capture a minimum number of delegates needed.

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Backroom deals by party bosses were normal and often resulted in compromise nominees that became known as dark horse candidates. Dark horse candidates were people who never imagined they would run for President until the last moments of the convention. Dark horse candidates were chosen in order to break deadlocks between more popular and powerful prospective nominees that blocked each other from gaining enough delegates to be nominated. The most famous dark horse candidate nominated at a Democratic National Convention was James Knox Polk who was chosen to become the candidate for President only after being added to the eighth and ninth delegate ballots.

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