Intimations of Miami

George McGovern showed early foot. Hubert Humphrey rallied and faded. Ed Muskie made a late surge. A hotly contested primary? No, a hotly contested mock political convention at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., the boomingest of the quadrennial campus mass ventures into political prediction. Washington and Lee's convention also has the best record for accuracy. Since visiting Speaker William Jennings Bryan inspired their first mock convention in 1908, the student delegates have correctly predicted the presidential nominee for the out-of-power party a remarkable ten of 14 times. It has been 60 years, in fact, since they were wrong about a Democrat.

This year's extravaganza got under way with a parade down Lexington's main street with bands, floats and real live jackasses. George Wallace's float, naturally, was a yellow school bus loaded with his mock delegates toting serious placards: REDNECK POWER. Another realistic touch was a token mob riding in a Jeep bearing the sign: MOCK

RIOTS. CHAOS. The parade was followed by a keynote speech by Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter that was received, reported the Richmond Times-Dispatch, with "remarkably convincing mock boredom."

The voting was tougher than usual this year, what with a crowd of candidates, eleven more real primaries still to go, a revised set of party rules and an expanded electorate. For months the 1,000 student delegates (out of a student enrollment of 1,600) had been conferring with Democratic leaders in all 50 states. Throughout last week's balloting, mock state chairmen sought advice by telephone from the same experts on how to vote, when to switch. After the appropriate hoopla, nominating speeches and floor demonstrations, the roll call got under way ("The great State of West Virginia, home of Jerry West, Don Knotts and Soupy Sales, casts its 35 votes ..."). On the first roll call, McGovern started strongly with 1,205 1/2 of the 1,509 votes needed for the nomination, climbed to 1,355 1/2 on the second, and then fell into a seeming deadlock with Humphrey, who eventually gave way to Muskie. Finally, after twelve hours and seven roll calls, the mock delegates settled on the nominee: Ted Kennedy.

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