The Obvious Candidate.

As Democrats prepared for the 1928 presidential campaign, divisions within their party were as deep as they had been in the previous presidential election. Once again the party was divided into rural versus urban, wet versus dry, and Catholic versus Protestant. Increasingly Democrats depended on the recent ethnic voters who resided primarily in large urban areas. The necessity of maintaining the loyalty of these voters made New York a must-win state for the Democrats, and this reality boosted the candidacy of Alfred E. "Al" Smith, the governor of that state. A leading contender in 1924, Smith used the recognition he had gained in that loss to launch a four-year campaign for the 1928 nomination. Smith organized his urban, wet, liberal forces early, working to avoid another 103-ballot, deadlocked convention. Smith was not unchallenged, but the opposing rural, dry, conservative forces...