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So as a sort of sister concept to this thread, I figured we could just talk about (a) those conventions, primaries, and leadership elections, (b) which while in themselves at least somewhat competitive, (c) are in advance of presidential or parliamentary elections where the incumbent party they’re set to challenge is pretty much guaranteed to lose (effectively making them the deciding contest for national president or pm).

The examples that come to mind for the US:
  • 1852 and 1856 Democratic National Conventions
  • 1920 Republican National Convention
  • 1932 Democratic National Convention
  • 1952 Republican Primaries and Convention
  • 1980 Republican Primaries
Meanwhile, in the UK:
  • 1975 Tory Leadership Election
  • 1994 Labour Leadership Election
And so on. Any more ideas?
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