The Pendragon's Hall

The Pendragon is gleeful at the historic possibilities opening up in this election. As a partisan Republican, I might be expected to bemoan the division of the party ahead of November's election. As a newly-disinterested historian who just wants a good show, the prospect of both parties having to settle the nomination at the convention is delightful. It's been a hundred years or more since either party had a brokered convention with people making backroom deals and concessions to wring delegates away from another candidate. Huckabee defeated McCain in Louisiana last night but since neither received 50% of the vote, Louisiana's delegates are free to support whomever they choose at the Republican National Convention in September. On the Democratic side, it's still neck-and-neck and Howard Dean is threatening an "arrangement" if the voters can't decide. How democratic. But at the very least this year's election should be a spectacle of historic proportions, so it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Personally, I'm hoping for a repeat of the 1912 election where a popular third-party candidate actually garnered some electoral support in a three-way race. Deals are a part of political culture and it's a shame we've gone without them for so long.