Capitol Primary

After the iron-fisted Chicago convention in 1968, reform-minded Democrats vowed to get the bosses and the smoke-filled rooms out of politics. By the 1980 Democratic National Convention in New York City, they had almost succeeded in pushing the pros out. Of the 3,331 delegates in Madison Square Garden, only 309 — a mere 9% — were party officials and Democratic officeholders. To give party stalwarts a bigger role in 1984, the Democratic National Committee adopted new rules that will bring to the San Francisco convention at least 191 Congressmen and Senators and 370 other party and elected officials. Says William Sweeney,...