F I R S TP R E V836NEXTLAST

Abraham Obama, Minna Street
Artist Ron English's take on the presidential race, these huge nine-foot posters, are displayed on the outside of the Shooting Gallery, an art gallery on Minna Street. Since today marks the beginning of the Democratic National Convention in Denver I thought it would be a good opportunity to talk about the four national political conventions that have taken place in San Francisco. Surprisingly those conventions have nominated some of the most conservative and the most liberal candidates ever to run for president.

The first national convention in San Francisco was the Democrat's held in 1920 which nominated Ohio Governor James Cox for President and Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin Roosevelt for Vice President. The next two conventions were Republican, in 1956 that party renominated President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon. Eight years later the GOP returned nominating Barry Goldwater and William E. Miller. The most recent convention here was the Democratic National Convention of 1984 putting forth Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro. Additionally, the city hosted the 1976 presidential debates between Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford.

... oh, and please vote Obama, thank you.
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