The last time Montana Democrats gathered for a convention in Miles City was in August 1960. That’s when a game 28-year-old Ted Kennedy ever so briefly rode a bucking bronco at the fair, all part of helping his brother, John F. Kennedy, get elected president.

Forty-eight years later, Democrats will meet in Cattle Country again to draft a party platform and hear from top elected officials and statewide candidates.

It figures to be a much tamer event than future U.S. Sen. Kennedy’s brief rodeo ride, which was chronicled in an autobiography by Joe Reber, a former prominent Helena businessman and major Democratic donor. Reber, a friend of the Kennedy family who’s now retired in Missoula, arranged to fly Kennedy from Helena to Miles City, and back, in his airplane.

“Someone yelled, ‘Hey, Kennedy, let’s see you ride a horse,’ ” Reber wrote of the scene at the fair. “Ted was young and met the challenge. He put on a pair of chaps and a cowboy hat, saddled up and came out of the chute. The horse took about three bucks, and Ted went off in the dust.

“As he grabbed his crotch, an old cowboy asked, ‘Didn’t they give you a jock strap, kid?’ Kennedy painfully replied, ‘No sirree, they didn’t, sir.’ ”

Montana Democratic Party Chairman Dennis McDonald said he pushed to schedule the convention in Miles City, even though the turnout might be lower.

“From my standpoint, when I scheduled this in Miles City, one of the things I’ve tried to do is make sure the Democratic Party represents Montanans all across the state,” said McDonald, a cattle rancher from Melville. “I thought it was important that the Democratic Party go where it hadn’t been in a half-century.”

Some western Montana Democrats are staying home instead of driving hundreds of miles to the convention on a beautiful July weekend. As of late Thursday, only 95 people had pre-registered for the event, but McDonald’s hoping for at least 150.

McDonald acknowledged that gas prices topping $4 a gallon and busy times for farmers and ranchers may cut into the attendance.

“But the last time I looked, the distance from Miles City to Helena is exactly the same as the distance from Helena to Miles City,” he said. “I’m hoping we get a lot of folks from Miles City and the surrounding area hat decide at the last minute to come to the convention that otherwise probably wouldn’t go to either party’s convention.”

The only Democratic legislator from Miles City, Rep. Bill McChesney, predicted a turnout of 150-200 people. He said the local Chamber of Commerce and business people are excited about the convention coming there.

“It’s a real positive thing for Miles City,” he said.

Asked about talk that some western Montana Democrats wouldn’t drive to Miles City, McChesney said, “It’s a funny thing. The distances increase as you drive from the west to the east.”

Montana Republicans drew more than 400 people at their convention in Missoula in June, which may be at least twice as many as show up for the Democratic event in Miles City.

When asked about this possible disparity, Democratic Party spokesman Kevin O’Brien said Democrats drew a good crowd at their delegate selection convention in Helena in June. Furthermore, he said, an estimated 5,000 turned out in Butte in April for the party dinner to hear presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Thousands more across the state heard the two presidential candidates, along with former President Bill Clinton, campaign here this spring.

“The little bit that we’re giving up in numbers we’re making up many-fold by bringing this to eastern Montana,” O’Brien said.

Among the no-shows this weekend are expected to be U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester. The Senate is expected to vote Saturday on legislation to crack down on oil and gas speculators and to deal with the housing crisis.

Among the speakers will be Gov. Brian Schweitzer and all of the other Democratic statewide candidates but attorney general candidate Steve Bullock. Although not originally planning to be there, U.S. House candidate John Driscoll now will speak at the convention.

McDonald said he doesn’t foresee any major platform battles at the convention, which will be at Miles Community College.