Good and Bad News

June 25^th, 1912

Last week the Republican National Convention commenced at the Chicago Coliseum in Chicago, IL. The good news is that William Howard Raft and James S. Sherman were nominated for president and vice president respectively. The bad news is that a progressive bolt from the party is imminent.

While Roosevelt had won nine of the primaries, he could not hold back the potential of Taft. Taft’s final tally was 561, well over the 50% needed. Roosevelt finished second with an unimpressive 107 votes, La Follette was third with 36. 322 Roosevelt delegates abstained, signaling that a new party may form.

Being the wimp that he is, Roosevelt spent most of the convention crying about some votes that may have been stolen from him. Many critics think that it would have behooved Roosevelt to prove Taft in-electable (this is certainly not the case) instead of trying to win the nomination through protocol.

The coming weeks will be important for us Republicans. If Roosevelt knew what was good for the 1912 election he would stay in the party and support President Taft.

Today the Democratic National Convention Commences, look for a follow up post sometime next week.