Political conventions can be decisive in shaping national politics and campaigns, even if they don’t decide the nominees for president anymore.
Robert Shrum
Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore gained between 13 and 18 percentage points in the polls after his acceptance speech in 2000. By the Saturday after the speech, Gore, who had been behind by double digits, was suddenly in the lead. (And he only lost an incredibly close election because of a Supreme Court decision.)
Similarly, Republican President George W. Bush turned his September 2004 convention in New York City — not far from Ground Zero — into a vivid message: In the face of a terrorist…
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