TIME staff members who have covered earlier political conventions insist that, for journalists, there is no such thing as a dull one. Last week's 32nd Republican National Convention was no exception. The matter of a vice presidential nominee seemed the only speculative bit of business on the Nation section's advance story list. Yet for the top editors of TIME and Time Inc., for the 17 Nation editors, writers and reporter-researchers at the convention, and for the magazine's 13 correspondents and ten photographers present, the event became a pageant of sleepless nights and hectic days, hot rumors and cold coffee, convention-floor traffic jams, tired feet and writer's cramp. TIME was blessed with a spacious workroom only a few steps from the floor of Detroit's Joe Louis Arena ("The best convention setup I've seen," said Midwest Bureau Chief Benjamin Cate). Picture Editor Arnold Drapkin and his staff directed photographers to the scene of the moment's action by two-way radio. TIME was able to station photographers at the hotel suites of Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Gerald Ford throughout the week.

Such quick and constant access proved invaluable when the midweek drama flared over the vice presidential selection. Washington-based Correspondent Walter Isaacson was one of the first journalists to learn of the Bush-for-Ford switch, from a friendly Reagan aide. Chief of Correspondents Richard Duncan swiftly redeployed his forces, including Washington Bureau Chief Robert Ajemian, Congressional Correspondent Neil MacNeil, Senior Correspondent Laurence Barrett and National Political Correspondent John Stacks. A series of TIME breakfasts and lunches with ranking Republicans had provided an informed commentary on the dynamics of the convention, and the questions did not always come from the press side of the table. When the subject of a Ford vice presidency came up over scrambled eggs with the former President on that hectic Wednesday, a Ford aide whispered to Contributor Hugh Sidey, "Would it work?" Says Sidey: "In this high-pressure business, that was all that was needed to indicate that the issue was still open."

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