Three days down, one to go, and so far it's looking pretty good. The Democrats had a few minefields to avoid in the convention - they had to defuse the infighting, get people excited for November, knock down McCain a few pegs, and do a good job presenting Obama to the people just tuning in. So far so good. There's still one more task to do tonight, but at least it plays to our strengths. Barring an incredible choke, Obama should be able to deliver a good speech.
How do we know that the convention has been going well (and yes, I'm knocking on wood every time I type that)? What issues are the conservative bloggers trying to raise? They can't bring up riots or PUMAs or anything other than that the half built scaffolding looks a little pretentious. Well as long as you don't look at the Republican VA convention or Bush in 2004. That's all they have right now.
Meanwhile, McCain has his own crisis going on. He has to try to find a way of getting his base to unite behind him while keeping the maverick image. The VP issue is a huge problem for him to work around. In a fun role reversal, Republicans are suddenly scared about the image they're presenting, "Sources also tell me that Karl Rove and other Bush White House operatives continue to push hard for Romney. But one wag told me there's a housing problem: Governor Romney has five; Sen. McCain and his wife have seven." The housing silliness might end up causing McCain to irritate his base. Good job there with pushing that.
Meanwhile, it sounds like the PUMAs might be doing some good, tempting McCain into a base annoying Hutchinson pick because he thinks that he has a shot of picking up most of Clinton's votes. This is what happens when you don't understand the Internet. You can fall for your own trolling.
The Republicans have a tough challenge next week. Bush has to pass the torch to McCain to appease their base but if he's too blatant about it, he'll piss off everyone else. Moreover, there's going to be a difference in viewer interest. The Republicans really have a two day convention at most. Their convention is going to open on Labor Day and the people who aren't busy barbecuing and drinking are likely to be more concerned with Gustav than watching Dick Cheney. It could be the worst case scenario where the only ones watching are Democratic operatives who are looking for advertisement material. Meanwhile Thursday is the opening of the NFL season. Even if people turn in after the game to see the keynote (talk about an adrenaline drop off from the NFL to McCain), all of the buildup will be ignored.
I'm not overconfident by any means. I'm both a Democrat and a Seattle sports fan so I'm always waiting for the disaster to happen. However, barring something horrible tonight, we accomplished our task incredibly well. Now it's the Republican's turn.
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