THAT SAID, in the high school I went to in NW Indiana in the early 1970's, it was a yearly event for the Senior Civics classes to all go to the Lecture Hall and put on a Mock Convention to "nominate" a candidate for President.
It was in the spirit of learning and having some fun at the same time.
Groups of kids would be assigned to be the delegates from each state.
We held multiple ballots and made deals until a President and Vice President got enough votes.
Some kids would dress up as various people who had run for run for President in the past.
I got with a couple of other guys, and we did George Wallace, PURELY in the spirit of being absurd.
Borrowed a wheelchair, borrowed an old suit from my dad, and slicked my hair straight back with hair grease.
They rolled me around in the wheelchair.
I got BOOED, during the ballots the delegates insulted my Wallace character, and my classmates threw wadded pieces of paper at me, etc. LOL :-)
We did it PURELY to be absurd, and everybody got a laugh out of it.
Nobody in our class believed that it meant we supported some redneck like George Wallace.
THERE'S even a picture of me in costume sitting in the wheelchair with my "Campaign Manager" in our High School yearbook.
We had a somewhat similar auditorium class in college that was more like a congressional setting. We divided up in groups and made bills to present. I was a chem major and our group made a bill supporting making bio-fuel out of animal waste. We called it the chicken**** bill. It was very much like a real session of congress. The football team brought in a keg.