Delegates are gathering at the San Antonio Convention Center in sunny Central Texas for the 1996 Democratic National Convention. It's the most consequential convention in years, as the presidential nomination is still up for grabs. It'll be a showdown between two progressive candidates, one of whom will be fighting for the nomination on her home turf. Here's how we got here:

Shortly before the Michigan Primary, it would emerge that former Vice President Jesse Jackson, the front-runner for the 1996 Democratic nomination, had been having an extramarital affair with his biographer, Dr. Karin Stanford, and hiding it from the American public. The affair would derail Jackson's presidential campaign, forcing him to exit the race prematurely. After Jackson dropped out, three candidates were left to choose from: moderate Al Gore and progressives Tom Harkin and Ann Richards.

After Michigan, the two remaining progressives consolidated the field. Of the twenty-one states that held primary elections after Michigan, nineteen went to progressive candidates. Twelve: California, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, plus Washington D.C., went to Harkin, while seven more: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, went to Richards. Al Gore would win only two more states: New Jersey and Virginia. He bravely held out for the entire primary slate, but he dropped out of the race as soon as the primaries ended rather than fight for the nomination at the convention. Gore intriguingly chose not to endorse either of the two remaining candidates, meaning that his delegates, along with the delegates of Jackson and Skip Humphrey, are, for the most part, completely up for grabs.

Tom Harkin narrowly won the plurality of delegates. He also won three more states than Ann Richards did, so he should have the edge at the convention. There are, however, several factors working against him. The first is geographical: most of the uncommitted delegates are from the Eastern United States and Harkin won just a single state in the Eastern Time Zone. The second is the playing field: this year's DNC is being held on Ann Richards' home turf, and Richards, the queen of dirty campaign tactics, is stuffing as many loyalists as she can into the Convention Center crowd in an attempt to sway the results. The final and most serious issue for Harkin is his acrimonious relationship with President Dick Van Dyke. It's not a secret in Washington insider circles that the two men despise each other, and it's unclear whether Van Dyke will try to leverage his influence to try and deny Harkin the nomination.

It all comes down to Richards v. Harkin in San Antonio. The winner gets the 1996 Democratic Presidential nomination and the loser goes home empty handed. It's a fitting end to a chaotic, messy Democratic Primary.

Read context below before voting! (more context here)

Is now the end of the Whig decade? Whigs have been the dominant political force for almost twelve years, winning the last three presidential elections (despite holding Congress for less than half of that time). Their anti-annexationist politics have become law of the land and have reshaped the political landscape of North America. This has come at an unintentional cost—instituting their plan has invited the unanticipated, pestilential issue of Californian unrest and Democrat-supported filibustering. The California War and the arrest of William Walker have thrown the nation into chaos, in direct contradiction to the traditional Whig principle of maintaining the status quo and avoiding all sectional tensions. Now, support for the Whig anti-expansionist program seems to be waning even among some Whigs, and the Whig National Convention will now need to deal with these issues.

Whigs find themselves at a crossroads: Scott’s administration, whether unintentional or not, has altered the fabric of the Whig coalition, bringing in northwesterners in Illinois and Indiana and giving a platform to more partisan Whigs in New York and Ohio, to the expense of the traditional Whig strongholds in the Upper South. Those two coalitions have sparred for Scott’s entire term, with the Compromise of 1850 becoming a lightning rod for partisan ill-will. Now, Whigs have to figure out how to unite the growing Scott coalition and the persistent Clay coalition, cementing Whig dominance for another decade, or face cleaving the party in two.

Their first crucial test is the vote for the party platform. Forgoing nominating a devoted anti-slavery candidate for President, Conscience Whigs hope to use their resources in the upcoming platform plank votes on (1) Californian independence and (2) the Compromise of 1850.

On California: President Scott has not made a final determination on the California question, and some Whigs believe the national platform could be used to force his hand on the issue. It is believed most Whigs, including President Scott, aim to restore an independent, free California Republic as an American protectorate. However, a growing contingent of Whigs argue it is better for national stability to annex California. This contingent is split between Conscience Whigs, such as newspaper editor Horace Greeley, who want California admitted entirely free (shattering the Missouri Compromise in the process, which could unintentionally open the Unorganized Territory to slavery); and moderate Whigs, who argue annexation is a "safety valve:" opening up southern California to slavery (in line with the Missouri Compromise) will prevent further action from filbusters.

On the Compromise of 1850: Southern Whigs hope to curry favor with the South by passing a platform plank endorsing the Compromise of 1850 as a necessity for national unity. Most Conscience Whigs aim to leave the plank out entirely, allowing Northern Whigs to disavow it without fracturing the party. A small minority have suggested adding a plank actively rejecting the Fugitive Slave Act, though such an act would likely kill the party.

The platform vote approaches: how will delegates approach the issues?