Dems Drawn-out Primary Creates Concerns for General Election

JIM LEHRER:

Finally tonight, what is the history of prolonged presidential primary battles? Judy Woodruff is in charge.

JUDY WOODRUFF:

Now that Hillary Clinton has vowed to stay in the race for the Democratic nomination until every vote is counted, even if that means all the way to the convention, some worry the protracted fight could jeopardize Democrats' chances in the fall.

To discuss that, we are joined by presidential historians Michael Beschloss and Richard Norton Smith. He's a scholar in residence at George Mason University.

We also hope to be joined by Peniel Joseph. He's professor of history and African-American studies at Brandeis University. He's in Louisville, Kentucky, tonight, where there's some heavy rainstorms affecting the signal. We'll see if he can join us.

But, gentlemen, let's begin, Michael Beschloss, Richard Norton Smith, to you, first. There are a lot of people who are saying this contest has gotten really ugly, nasty things said on both sides, strong feelings on both sides.

What's the history of this kind of a contentious primary? How often have we seen this?

RICHARD NORTON SMITH, George Mason University:

Well, we see these often. And I'll tell you, this is a lot milder than what we've seen in the past. And the fact is that even a very bitter, divisive, internal struggle does not have to doom a party's chances in November, if there are external factors, like a desire for change, which we're all familiar with this year.

Classic example is 1952. The Democrats had been in power 20 years. The country was in an unpopular war in Korea. And yet the Republicans almost tore themselves apart, leading up to and at their convention, with a deep ideological and cultural divide between Dwight Eisenhower and the moderates and Bob Taft and the conservatives.

Eisenhower won in the credentials fight, a messy fight on the convention floor, where they actually tossed Taft delegates out, and it was all on television.

And interestingly, the Eisenhower people thought television was their greatest ally. If they could get people to look inside the convention, then they could rally the public to their version of events.

And in November, there's absolutely no evidence that it undercut Eisenhower's chances. He won in a landslide against a very attractive Democratic candidate, Adlai Stevenson.