WITH THE closure of the party conventions, the American election campaign officially gets under way. With the advent of the primary system in the post-war period, American conventions lost much of their excitement, since nominations became foregone conclusions.
In more recent years, with the careful stage-management to suit the demands of the television age, conventions lost much of their purpose as forums for open debate. Rather like the human appendix, American political conventions are starting to look like useless appendages doomed to one day disappear. Already this year, the major television networks cut their coverage while many reporters boycotted the conventions.
All the same, the conventions still remain a key tool for the parties to bring their candidates into the public eye. By and large, one can say that both the Republican and Democratic conventions went well for their organisers. This is reflected in the polls, which suggest that in the Presidential race at least, the two parties are now locked in a dead heat.
However, it would appear that the Republican Party did a marginally better job of smoothing over its internal differences than did the Democratic Party. If this continues to be the case during the campaign, the Republicans may hold the electoral advantage going into November.
Nevertheless, at all levels of the federal system, this campaign season is likely to be one of the most hotly-contested in recent years. Every day will count, and the warm glow of the conventions will disappear quickly into the haze of daily battles.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner.
