Blogger Candidate Forum: Do We Still Need Conventions?

 

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the site of the DNC Convention
en.wikipedia.org

The Blogger Candidate Forum is stepping into the blogosphere this week and next for the Democratic and Republican national conventions.  Typically, these quadrennial events are full soaring speeches, rousing music, gauzy video presentations, music, lots of confetti and balloon drops all culminating in the anointing of each party's standard in the General Election.

Momentary digression: are you a registered voter?  If you are, great please do not forget to vote on November 3, 2020, if you are doing it in person, or mail in you ballot by midnight October 15, 2020.  If you are not a registered voter, stop reading and go to usa.gov and register, then come back to read the post.  Thank you.

  However if you want confetti canon and balloon drops, you will have to do it yourself.  The continuing COVID-19 pandemic has made large gatherings, like the national conventions, out of the question.  Mask (please make sure you always wear your mask) and social distancing (please maintain a six foot radius around yourselves) notwithstanding, the very thought of cramming a capacity crowd into an arena sets up a nightmare scenario of healthy attendees coming in contact with potentially symptomatic attendees who take the virus home and create new hot spots.  Thus to reduce the possibility of transmission and more time in lock down, the Democrats and Republicans have opted for a mostly virtual gathering to formally nominate the candidates for president and vice president.  This begs the question, what if national conventions disappeared?

Balloon drop
aarp.org

Originally, the Democratic National Convention was planned for Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  The site was strategically chose because Wisconsin is one of a handful states that could determine who sits in the Oval Office beginning 20 January 2021.  The Democratic National Committee decided first to postpone their convention, then shrunk it thanks to the virus pandemic.  Now, the gala political event is evaporating in the virtual fog, as reported in the Milwaukee  Journal Sentinel,

Whatever was left of an in-person 2020 Democratic National Convention evaporated Wednesday as organizers announced Joe Biden won't be traveling to Milwaukee to give his presidential acceptance speech.

And neither will any of the speakers who will address the Aug. 17-20 convention.

With the coronavirus pandemic paralyzing modern politics, Democrats will hold a virtual convention.

Biden will accept the party's presidential nomination from his home state of Delaware (nymag.com; Aug. 5, 2020; date accessed Aug. 17, 2020)

In May, the DNC set up a system of remote voting on convention business--the formal ballot for president and vice president--which reduced the presence at the convention site.  The rest of the event existed a city with its own public health concerns.

Republican National Convention
Charlotte, North Carolina
whsv.com

The Republicans were initially averse to a virtual convention, however, since they were never totally onboard with the idea, the Republican National Committee cannot completely abandon host city Charlotte, North Carolina, the way the abandoned the second choice host Jacksonville, Florida.  The RNC's current plan is "a few hundred delegates will assemble in North Carolina to conduct essential business (including the nominations), carrying proxies from the rest of the delegates" (nymag.com; Aug. 5, 2020).  As of right now, it is unclear if any if these activities will be open to the media and public.  For his part, the incumbent president is still trying find an acceptable site to give his acceptance speech.  Regardless of what he and his re-election team decide, it will most definitely be in Charlotte.

What is even less clear is whether the the back-and-forth over the convention logistics are nothing more than "pandemic hiccups that will give way in four years (or whenever big live gatherings are a thing again) to a return of old-school national political conventions in their bloated and bloviating glory--or if these will be mercifully consigned to history as the atavistic and gratuitous events they have become in recent decades since losing their deliberative function" (nymag.com; Aug. 5, 2020).  For their part, the news media outlets could very well decide to reduce convention coverage to a back page item.  Like some many COVID-19-related accommodations affecting every element of life, the Democrat and Republican National Committees may have to re-configure the entire convention infrastructure in acknowledgment of the reality of election campaigns.  Or will this year be the end of political conventions?

Presidents at past conventions
politico.com

The incumbent Mr. Donald Trump loves a big show.  Nothing like a sea of red MAGA hats, rousing music, cheering supporters, confetti and balloons to put a big smile on his face.  This year he has been forced give up on the idea in acknowledgment of the pandemic.  Like their Democrat counterparts, the Republicans will move most of their convention online.  It was not always like this.

American political conventions are traditions that go back to the 19th-century.  The first televised convention was in early fifties, when both major parties began to look for ways to reinforce their verbal message.  According to Professor Eric Heberling of the University of the North Carolina told National Public Radio, that political parties were looking beyond the convention hall, thinking,

...what's going to reinforce our verbal message with a visual message...

adding that the parties began planning to focus on

...that audience out there that's watching on television? (npr.org; Aug. 14, 2020; date accessed Aug. 17, 2020).

 but in  the contemporary American political landscape, there is "growing criticism that they are simply outdated, expensive, multi-day infomercials" (Ibid).  This year the pandemic has forced the cancellation of multi-day infomercials, moving them online.  For some, it is opportunity to completely overhaul how there events are held in the future (Ibid).

Convention balloon drop
npr.org

 Over the years, conventions have become frustratingly choreographed event, making it harder for the television networks to tell a story, yet, since the age of televised convention there have legitimately newsworthy moments.  For example, in 2004 a young unknown state senator from Illinois, running for the U.S. Senate, gave a memorable keynote address at the Democratic convention.  His name was Barack Obama.  The 2008 Republican convention introduced a little known hockey mom governor of Alaska named Sarah Palin.  There was a truly cringe-worthy moment at the 2012 Republican featuring Oscar winning actor-director Clint Eastwood interviewing an empty chair stand-in for incumbent President Obama.  As electrifying or horrifying as those moment were, perhaps now it is time for a change.

How to elect a president
usa.gov

Former RNC spokesman Doug Heye came to the conclusion that perhaps it is time to do-away the multi-day political infomercial.  He told National Public Radio,

Conventions haven't changed in practically 40 years,... [They've] become four nights of a big, bloated system that just doesn't get the attention that it used to (npr.org; Aug. 14, 2020).

Once a upon time, TV networks bragged about their "gavel-to-gavel coverage" (Ibid), now broadcast the prime time speeches.  Even then, the anchors and invited pundits spend most of the talking over the action on the convention floor.

Then there is the costs of the convention, specifically security costs.  Mr. Heye said, "...the cost of providing security--millions and millions of dollars--also makes such events less attractive to potential host cities as well..."  He added "the pandemic gives everyone a reason to rethink how these things are done" (Ibid).  He said,

You're going to evolve from this one way or another...The question is how? (Ibid)

What comes next?

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, both major parties were already trying to adapt to an audience that streams instead of make time for appointment TV.  This year the emphasis is on producing that viral moment like, yes, Clint Eastwood interviewing an empty chair.  Leah Daughtry ran the 2008 and 2016 Democratic National Conventions told NPR that regardless of what the nominating conventions look like in future they still have to answer some fundamental questions:

What are the party's values?  What is the party's vision?  How is this nominee going to take us further?  How are we planning to move as a nation? (Ibid)

These are the questions that signal voters to pay attention to the election at hand to see which candidate has the best answers.  Going forward, Ms. Daughtry predicts that the Republican and Democrat parties will shorten the conventions to two instead of four days.  Even if the networks do not give them quite the coverage they used to get, they still have some value to both major parties.  She said,

They may be reformed and reformatted,...But that kind of energy of several thousands people, you and closet thousand friends in the hall just won't go away (Ibid).

A lot will be learned from the success and failure of the 2020 virtual conventions and serve as a model for the 2024 edition.  One thing that will remain a constant is the thrill of it all