democrat open convention 1980

[WalterMitty]

after carter apparently clinched the democrat nomination in 1980, his challenger, ted kennedy, repeatedly called for an open convention to decide the nominee.

several other potential candidates, including scoop jackson and hugh carey, announced their availability in the event of an open or deadlocked convention.

discuss what would have happened.  would carter have been re-nominated anyway?  would kennedy have snatched the nomination? or would the convention turn to someone else?

[Michael Z]

I think Carter would have gotten the nomination anyhow. He was, after all, the sitting President and the perception of him being a "failure" is only something that has come with hindsight.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm sure anybody old enough to remember 1980 and able to cast their minds back to that election won't necessarily say that Reagan's victory was a dead given, in spite of the problems America had back then (economic malaise/Iranian hostage crisis). Lest we forget that the political centre of gravity back then was still somewhat more to the left (it only shifted to the right after two terms of Reagan) and Reagan was seen as a bit of a risk, perhaps a bit too far to the right to be President.