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Will he assert his independence? The answer depends partly on how the typical delegate was chosen. Amid the bewildering variety of state election laws, he could be hand-picked by his Governor, elected by a state convention, or selected by a tiny elite of state party committeemen. In only 15 states do registered voters elect delegates in primaries, which may be more or less open; another three states, including New York, pick some delegates by primaries while party leaders name others. Whatever the mechanics, unless the delegate is an insurgent, it is highly likely that he goes to the convention as a payoff for his loyal activism—and that hardly presages independence.
Even so, the very profusion of selection methods brings every imaginable type to the conventions. Some are expectable: the two conventions will muster most of the 50 state Governors, and a predictably high proportion of U.S. Senators and Congressmen. Equally expectable types include the pretty, enthusiastic Republican matron from Virginia who has given four to eight hours a day, five days a week, to her local party headquarters to earn her vote in Miami; or the Negro athlete whose name adds luster and racial balance to the California Democratic delegation.
The archetypal moneybags—but hardly typical delegate—at either convention is Delaware Republican Reynolds du Pont, 50, one of the clan's richest members. After M.I.T., he had a go at the family firm, but quietly dropped out. Du Pont likes politics and yachts. He was elected state senator in 1958. In both 1964 and 1966, he managed syndicates of similarly bankrolled yachtsmen who tried unsuccessfully to win the right to defend the America's Cup with the twelve-meter American Eagle. This summer, though he is leader of the Republican-controlled state senate and also chairman of the Republican state finance committee, Du Pont missed both Rockefeller and Reagan when they came to Delaware a-woo-ing delegates, because on both those weekends he happened to be out to sea.
Moderates, Insurgents, Bosses
The epitome of the moderate labor leader is Texas Democrat Ed Watson, 48, son of a deputy sheriff and now vice president of Local 4367 of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union. This will be his first national convention, but Watson has been a political activist since 1952, when he lost a bitter factional fight in his local precinct. "The issue then—as now—was whether liberals or conservatives would control the Texas Democratic Party." Watson favors Humphrey, and thus finds himself for once on the same side as his longtime conservative opponents.