Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day for January 15, 2020
The Number of the Day columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
January 15, 2020: With Democratic presidential primary debates being held every month, it’s hard to remember that this is a relatively new phenomenon in American politics.
The first such debate took place 64 years ago in the 1956 election season. They didn’t become regular fixtures until the 1980s.
It all began on May 21, 1956, when Democrats Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefauver squared off in a one hour debate on ABC News. Each candidate gave a three minute opening statement, a five minute closing statement, and had questions in between. The moderator was Quincy Howe.[1]
That debate played an important role in the transition to the television era of American politics.
Four years earlier, the presidential nominating conventions had been televised for the first time.[2] Four years later, John Kennedy and Richard Nixon held the first nationally televised general election debate. Many believed his television-ready style helped Kennedy win a very close election.[3]
It’s worth noting that Stevenson and Kefauver competed for the nomination in both 1952 and 1956. Stevenson won the nomination at a brokered convention and Kefauver became his running mate. The results were the same in 1956 and the ticket again lost to Dwight D. Eisenhower in a landslide.[4]
It’s perhaps no coincidence that the last brokered convention was held just as television was making its presence felt on the political scene. Backroom haggling isn’t as visually compelling as carefully scripted productions.
Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology.
- January 14, 2020 –68 years since the last brokered Presidential convention
- January 13, 2020 –2 State Legislative Elections Decided By A Single Vote
- January 10, 2020 –Ten states have fewer residents than a year ago
- January 9, 2020 –203,414 residents moved out of California last year
- January 8, 2020 –24 states will have a higher minimum wage in 2020
- To see other recent numbers, check out the archive.
Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day is published by Ballotpedia weekdays at 8:00 a.m. Eastern. Click here to check out the latest update.
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Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
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See also
Footnotes
- ↑ Commission on Presidential Debates, "1956 Debate," accessed January 14, 2020
- ↑ NPR, "Remembering the First Nationally Televised Convention," July 8, 2002
- ↑ CNN, "Kennedy-Nixon debate changed politics for good," September 26, 2005
- ↑ Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections, "1956 Presidential General Election Results," accessed January 14, 2020
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