Brokered conventions have become rare following the decline of political machines and party bosses, and the advent of national primary campaigns and mass media.
At the 1924 Democratic National Convention, divisions between the anti-prohibition "wets" and the pro-prohibition "dries" led to a 102-ballot deadlock over 17 days between the frontrunners, Alfred E. Smith and William G. McAdoo.
[13] Secondly, political parties wish to avoid the negative publicity from a brokered convention and to maximize the amount of time that the nominee has to campaign for the presidency.
Such an agreement would likely commit the frontrunner to make some form of concession(s) in return, such as selecting the former rival as his/her vice presidential nominee.
Former California Governor Ronald Reagan won the presidential nomination and chose George H. W. Bush as his vice-presidential nominee although President Gerald Ford was the frontrunner for the slot.
The 1964 film The Best Man, based on a play of the same name, centers on the actions of two presidential candidates vying for an unspecified political party's nomination leading up to and during a brokered convention.