I heart Marty Kaplan of "So What Else Is News?"

[Missy Vixen]

Marty just called for the Democratic party to cancel its convention and use the money spent for ads in battleground states.

Even if I'm running to be a national delegate, HE ROCKS. We're in the midst of the caucus/convention season. It costs delegates a mint, not to mention the party. What if we told * and his handlers that we'd forgo the convention if he agreed to weekly debates from September through October?

What do you all think about this one? Is the convention still relevant today?

Julie

[NMDemDist2]

1. I was listening too and my thought was "Marty doesn't get it"

The convention isn't for the "bump" that's just a nice side effect, the convention isn't for the politicians,

the conventions are for the rank and file folks like me who give up hours of their lives to walk the neighborhoods, answer the phones, stuff the envelopes and do the grunt work for the local parties.

And it's we "rank and file" who go to the conventions and give lots of noisy input about which planks need to go into the platforms.

The folks on the floor of the conventions aren't Party "Big Shots" they are moms and guys who just got laid off and small (very small) business people who scrimp and save to go to the convention to show their support and carry the message for all of us back home who have busted our @sses all year

Sorry but Marty doesn't get it.

[Fovea]

2. There has to be some way to generate party platform

that is not just the DLC talking points. If not the convention, where?

[Old and In the Way]

3. Frankly, I wonder what the real value is of a convention today.

In the "old days", it made sense, given the primitive communication channels available when they were started. Today, it's largely a big booze fest.

This year, I'm not liking the idea of the Democratic leadership all bunched up in one place....too big a target for terrorists.

Much better to develop a secure internet connection that could have it "online". Speeches could be streamed, planks voted on, etc. Seems that this would give people more input into the process.

Conventions make great spectacles, but are they really the best way to to leverage and communicate to the rank-and-file? I really don't think so.

As you suggest, use the money to bring the leadership to the state level where the races are closest and hold rallies there.