Political Conventions: Why Bother?

Yes, yes, yes, I know that it can help excite the base by having a bunch of red-meat speakers bashing the opposition, but really very little changes with respect to voters. There is a little temporary bump for each party, but in the end not much happens.

The imagery of delegates partying in a weak economy doesn't seem to be a good image. Most of the conventions - Democratic or Republican - are boring. My guess is that most people won't bother to watch most of the conventions. The one thing they will watch is the candidates' speeches. So it does create an opportunity to deliver a message to the country, but what I think we will see in coming years is the networks televising just one night of the convention.