For a lot of insiders, the “virtual” conventions weren’t a second-best—they were a breath of fresh air. Here are the tricks the parties should learn from the past two weeks, according to experts
I am a political scientist, a veteran of state and federal politics, and a political junkie who has been watching conventions for 40 years. Not once did I ever see a convention and want to be a part of one. They were not for people like me but for the loyalists, the people who were there because they had power somewhere in the party or because they had spent enough time sticking leaflets under windshield wipers in wintry parking lots to earn their ticket into a sweaty, booze-drenched bash.
The ability to bring together the failed candidates of a particular cycle, via a “Hollywood Squares”-like conversation, will likely live on as a way to manage speaking and appearance time. The idea of changing up backdrops beyond the set on stage in the hall has lasting appeal. If I were to guess, I would say it will be 75:25—75 percent of what we used to do , and 25 percent new .David PolyanskyLeave it to a global pandemic to bring us long overdue changes to political conventions.
Second: Clarity. The speeches we’ve seen this year have also been clearer. There’s no need to jazz up the in-person crowd of partisans, and thus the speakers did what political speeches often fail to do: Say something. When you can’t write applause lines, you have to write substantive ones. I suspect virtual conventions—to some degree and scope—are here to stay. And that’s a good thing. For too long, the funding of conventions has become a vehicle for too much corporate influence over our democracy. Holding virtual conventions is cheaper and more efficient, and can hopefully put an end to one key element of corporate influence.
Top: Convention Secretary Jason Rae directs the Democrats' roll call vote. Bottom: A North Dakota delegate speaks during the roll call. | AP Photos There are no silver linings to a deadly pandemic, but permanent changes will result from it—some of them good. In the political realm, one positive outcome is the reexamination of the national party convention. Surprisingly, this year both parties held pretty much to the traditional four-day schedule of activities. At least they eliminated much of the dead time between speeches.
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