51.   Party conventions, once the vital, throbbing mechanisms by which presidential nominees were actually chosen, serve today only as ceremonial window displays for pre-selected goods.

52.   Petition signers would otherwise be sent primary ballots for voting, which began this month and concludes when the party convention begins in three weeks.

53.   Public financing of party conventions was initiated as a campaign reform after the Watergate scandal to limit the clout of special interests with political parties.

54.   Recently Gov. George Bush was doing the invoking at the state party convention and sounding Reaganesque.

55.   Rick Lazio has all but officially accepted the Conservative Party endorsement for the Senate in New York, expected to come Saturday at the party convention in Albany.

56.   Republicans will pick their nominee on the first two days of June at a party convention in Richmond.

57.   Round Two is the party convention.

58.   Sentiment is to national party conventions what cleavage is to the Academy Awards.

59.   Selecting a running mate well before a party nominating convention is not unheard of.

60.   She and Al Franken, the comedy writer and unregenerate liberal, will spar in Comedy Central television spots during the national party conventions in August.