Convention Comentary

Barack Obama's acceptance speech in front of 84,000 in Denver last week was historic. But will it give him a bump in the polls? And how will the RNC measure up as its opening was taking a back seat to developments with Hurricane Gustav?

Here, with the help of the 2 Regular Guys at CBS2School is a convention primer, just in time to view the GOP in Minneapolis and for use in breaking down last week's DNC:

There is no better show of democracy’s promise then our quadrennial political circus commonly known as the National Party Conventions. These conventions come with a cast of characters and attractions larger than life as the major political parties try to assemble tents big enough to host a wide collection of November voters. Each of these conventions stages three rings of political theater that exhibit important lessons to our civic experience: democratization, nomination and celebration.

VIDEO: CNN's Anderson Cooper On The Media
VIDEO: Political Theater In Denver
VIDEO: On The Floor Of The Convention
VIDEO: Stiff Security In Denver
VIDEO: Vast Variety Under Dems' Big Tent

Democratization
Despite a Constitution committed to the consent of the governed, our early elections were designed for and by a political aristocracy. It was a one ring circus lodged in a smoke-filled room. The party leaders both chose the nominees and voted for them in the elections. We the people could only hope the elections were in our best interests since few participated and the Ringmaster was not one of us. This soon changed.

As free citizens, we demanded more. In addition to gaining the vote, we wanted a role in selecting our candidates as well. And we did it all in the big top. The National Party Conventions were set up to allow direct representatives of the people, delegates, to pick the respective presidential candidates. The delegates became the roadies setting up for democracy’s greatest traveling show and one of our great choosing days.

After the turmoil of the Democrat’s 1968 convention, the McGovern Commission assured that Democratic delegates reflected diversity across all demographic spectrums. The Republican delegates, less concerned about uniting diverse factions under a big tent, appeared to be more exclusive but still took measures to empower grassroots party members at their conventions. Thus, the National Party Conventions became living testaments to the internal democratization of our political process.

Nomination
More than a display of democracy’s expanding capabilities, the National Party Conventions perform death defying acts. The conventions are the finale of the first act in the presidential campaign as the delegates at this show must finally choose the nominee for president of their party.

Attracting the nomination of one’s political party is a notable feat and a giant first step in winning a general election. After a long and arduous journey through state primaries and caucuses, the delegates once and for all make their choice. But this has not always been easy. In 1924, it took Democratic delegates 103 ballots to finally settle on Dark Horse candidate John W. Davis.

Today these conventions appear more like the anticipation of the human cannonball. On paper it is an extraordinary stunt, but in reality…the outcome is virtually certain.

These party conventions must also walk a careful tightrope when writing their respective platform positions.

The platform is where the party delegates stake their claim to party priorities. The planks of the platform will be the issues on which the party and its candidates will run. They are the cotton candy of a campaign.

In some years sticky debates ensue. Back in 1968, Democrats fought over their position on Vietnam. In Chicago that year, “the whole world was watching” the greatest show on earth. Platforms provide a foretaste to a political agenda one could expect when electing a candidate. Although these national party conventions may include acts which you have already seen with an outcome you already anticipate, they are essential to a process whereby we choose our “last best hope.” Everybody loves a good circus.

Celebration
Beyond putting democracy on display and nominating a candidate, the third and final ring to this political circus involves nothing more and nothing less than a national celebration. These are political parties after all, and you cannot do the political without having a party.

The grandstands are full. There is loud music and plenty of carefully planned eye candy. Animals abound everywhere, Republicans preferring elephants and Democrats donkeys. Party leaders, fat cats and celebrities fill the big top. There are balloons. The message is simple, join our fun.

Four nights of television coverage mutate into one long political ad. The lion tamer to this political uproar is the national media. Whipping up trouble where they can while sitting down with the wild and unruly kings of the jungle their goal.

But the TV coverage now just scratches the surface as hopes of higher ratings becomes the quadrennial sport.

The ratings have fallen as the drama of the three rings has fallen prey to other amusements and pastimes. Gavel to gavel coverage has been supplanted by highlight reels and sound bites. Subsequently the National Party Conventions have become tightly scripted pseudo events which in the end reveal little while inspiring fewer and fewer viewers. These events were once a national showcase, a spring board toward the general election. Now the party and its candidates, at best, can hope for a bump. Still we celebrate in the arena.

Grand Finale
The National Party Conventions still exhibit three important lessons to our civic experience: democratization, nomination and celebration. They signal that soon we the people will have another chance to select one of us to be the ultimate Ringmaster.

The campaign has always been about poetry. Of this spectacular event Walt Whitman wrote: “If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene and show, . . . the quadrennial choosing.”

National Party Conventions are more than ballyhoo, they are rituals that truly matter. The Romans had their bread and circuses. Our grandstand, however, has no reserved seating only general admission. The big prize from this political arcade is nothing more and nothing less than the leader of the free world.

The National Party Conventions are democracy’s greatest show on earth.