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Democrats to cut their convention in Charlotte to 3 days

By Mitch Perry on Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 4:07 pm

As in ’08, Obama will again give his acceptance speech in a stadium, not in the arena where the rest of the convention takes place.

Steve Kerrigan, the CEO of the Democrats' convention committee, says that Obama will give his acceptance speech and officially kickoff the general-election campaign against the Republican nominee at the Bank of America Stadium, which, in light of the Occupy Wall Street movement, may not be the best locale to give such a major address.

in 2008, the DNC held its final night at Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium in Denver, another football stadium.

It should be noted that in 2008 the GOP also canceled the first day of its four-day party, which also happened to be on Labor Day. That was because of hurricanes in Texas, even though the convention was being held in Minnesota. Republicans, still sensitive about attacks on the Bush administration for its lack of immediate response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, were taking no chances, and canceled the first day, though the storm ultimately failed to pack as a big a punch as predicted.

The fact that both parties can do such conventions in three days suggests that they could probably do them in one day — a roll call for all of the delegates, followed by the acceptance speeches.

But that wouldn't be nearly as much fun, would it? Of course, the lack of any significant news at these events is what's led the broadcast networks to carry as little as one hour of coverage a night since 2000.

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Barack Obama giving his acceptance speech in Denver in '08

Just like four years ago, the two national political party conventions are going to be held within days of each other in late summer, though this time it's the Republicans who will go first. They'll be here in Tampa in late August, while the Dems will begin their convention the following Tuesday in Charlotte.

The Dems' plan had originally been to start their festivities on Labor Day, but today they announced a truncated three-day schedule, running from Tuesday September 4 through Thursday September 6.

Although that might disappoint some Democrats who looked forward to the week-long party outside the convention hall, the 25 percent reduction in the schedule illustrates how little actual business is actually done at these events, which are mostly for show and are a great four-day ad for the political parties, with taxpayer monies paying for all of the security required.