Highlight: Holding a simultaneous rally 90 minutes down the road in Milwaukee, filling both the RNC and DNC stadiums to the brim just to show off was a big win.
Lowlight: The “surprise guest” stunt. Seriously, who signed off on that? Don’t tease a special guest for a full day just to have no special guest at …
Highlight: Holding a simultaneous rally 90 minutes down the road in Milwaukee, filling both the RNC and DNC stadiums to the brim just to show off was a big win.
Lowlight: The “surprise guest” stunt. Seriously, who signed off on that? Don’t tease a special guest for a full day just to have no special guest at all. Stupid move
Best speech(es): The Obamas. Michelle and Barack Obama are generational talent orators.
Worst speech: Bill Clinton. He has clearly reached his expiration date. A 78 year old man simply doesn’t have the political skills or acumen he held a decade ago. In 1992 his charm and charisma were fresh, exciting and led him to the White Housem 32 years later he just doesn’t have it any more.
Boldest move: The rollcall of states, by a mile. Adding music and celebration turned what is normally a C-SPAN esque snoozefest formality into a celebrstion. I suspect both parties will be treating their rollcalls differently from now on because of this, and they will be treated as productions/highlights moving forward. Resounding success of by far the biggest “out there” move of the convention
Conclusion: Like most conventions, I suspect there will be a small bounce in the polls. But I truthly don’t believe we’ve hit steady state yet, as it was only 33 days ago we were still facing Trump-Biden II Electric Boogaloo. The polls haven’t leveled out to a “new normal” yet. Once the DNC “bounce (to the extent it exists or is measurable) is baked in the cake in another ~week or so, we’ll have a real baseline for the election. Conveniently that also coincides with Labor Day, when the electorate traditionally starts tuning into politics in advance of the Novemebr election. My guess is Harris will be up 4-5 on Labor Day, after being up 2-3 now (depending on who is doing the averages).
Disagree somewhat- as older D American and 16 year veteran of the Illinois legislature from 50-50 district. Bill Clinton was not as good as he has been but still great speaker. Best or most necessary and effective speakers were the Republican Lt.Governor of Georgia and Republican Adam Kinzinger. These 2 reach GOP and Independent voters- I saw the effect they had on my white male haircutter Thursday morning- he is a strict independent but talked good about the ticket. Texas and Florida may come into play- close by Harris wins 2 Senate seats; N.C. moving toward D victory for Harris (close) and swamp by statewide.
The Quad Cities moved substantially to the right between 2012 and 2016. Do you think they'll continue to trend Republican, or have Democrats stabilized there?
Think the best speech from a simultaneous "rev up the base and appeal to swingy voter" was Walz. I thought the two Republicans you mentioned were also good for the indies watching, as was Bill. Yes, he's not the absolute oratical force he was just 10 years ago, but he still knows how to speak to middle America and paint things in a larger context that flows and is easy to understand.
The Obamas were great at speaking to the base, as was Hilary and Whitmer.
Twitter loved AOC's Monday performance but honestly I didn't love her speech. Her upper register can get a little screechy, the rhetoric too pseudo-socialist warrior, and delivery too scripted and rehearsed for my tastes.
78 year old Clinton isn't the same as 46 year old Clinton, and we've seen plenty of evidence from others lately about declining political and oratorical skills as they age.
But Bill still has his long standing capability to fill a speech with all manner of facts as well as zingers and keep it interesting, as well as his extemporaneous talents which have usually been better than his prepared script readings--which served him especially well this week when faced with teleprompter problems mid-speech.
when Bill Clinton talks about economic policy and job creation, folks believe him..therefore, I think he accomplished his mission.. Agree with most of your takes except the Beyonce stuff.. which I consider to be small potatoes..
I'll join the others disagreeing about Bill Clinton. I actually thought his quieter demeanor was a nice contrast from the pulpit style of most everyone else. He should have been shorter though.
Ann Richards' daughter spoke briefly as the director of some organization and I couldn't understand anything she said. Others I thought were meh were Klobuchar, a woman running for Congress in California (missed her name, very theatrical), Pelosi, Ted Lieu, Maura Healey, and Josh Shapiro.
I was very impressed by Hakeem Jeffries and Wes Moore.
My 1000-foot review of the DNC
Highlight: Holding a simultaneous rally 90 minutes down the road in Milwaukee, filling both the RNC and DNC stadiums to the brim just to show off was a big win.
Lowlight: The “surprise guest” stunt. Seriously, who signed off on that? Don’t tease a special guest for a full day just to have no special guest at all. Stupid move
Best speech(es): The Obamas. Michelle and Barack Obama are generational talent orators.
Worst speech: Bill Clinton. He has clearly reached his expiration date. A 78 year old man simply doesn’t have the political skills or acumen he held a decade ago. In 1992 his charm and charisma were fresh, exciting and led him to the White Housem 32 years later he just doesn’t have it any more.
Boldest move: The rollcall of states, by a mile. Adding music and celebration turned what is normally a C-SPAN esque snoozefest formality into a celebrstion. I suspect both parties will be treating their rollcalls differently from now on because of this, and they will be treated as productions/highlights moving forward. Resounding success of by far the biggest “out there” move of the convention
Conclusion: Like most conventions, I suspect there will be a small bounce in the polls. But I truthly don’t believe we’ve hit steady state yet, as it was only 33 days ago we were still facing Trump-Biden II Electric Boogaloo. The polls haven’t leveled out to a “new normal” yet. Once the DNC “bounce (to the extent it exists or is measurable) is baked in the cake in another ~week or so, we’ll have a real baseline for the election. Conveniently that also coincides with Labor Day, when the electorate traditionally starts tuning into politics in advance of the Novemebr election. My guess is Harris will be up 4-5 on Labor Day, after being up 2-3 now (depending on who is doing the averages).
The DNC was behind the special guest leak? I wasn't aware that was the case.
Disagree somewhat- as older D American and 16 year veteran of the Illinois legislature from 50-50 district. Bill Clinton was not as good as he has been but still great speaker. Best or most necessary and effective speakers were the Republican Lt.Governor of Georgia and Republican Adam Kinzinger. These 2 reach GOP and Independent voters- I saw the effect they had on my white male haircutter Thursday morning- he is a strict independent but talked good about the ticket. Texas and Florida may come into play- close by Harris wins 2 Senate seats; N.C. moving toward D victory for Harris (close) and swamp by statewide.
Awesome to have you here, Mike! I love the fact that elected officials are part of this community.
Wow!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Boland_(politician)
The Quad Cities moved substantially to the right between 2012 and 2016. Do you think they'll continue to trend Republican, or have Democrats stabilized there?
Think the best speech from a simultaneous "rev up the base and appeal to swingy voter" was Walz. I thought the two Republicans you mentioned were also good for the indies watching, as was Bill. Yes, he's not the absolute oratical force he was just 10 years ago, but he still knows how to speak to middle America and paint things in a larger context that flows and is easy to understand.
The Obamas were great at speaking to the base, as was Hilary and Whitmer.
Twitter loved AOC's Monday performance but honestly I didn't love her speech. Her upper register can get a little screechy, the rhetoric too pseudo-socialist warrior, and delivery too scripted and rehearsed for my tastes.
78 year old Clinton isn't the same as 46 year old Clinton, and we've seen plenty of evidence from others lately about declining political and oratorical skills as they age.
But Bill still has his long standing capability to fill a speech with all manner of facts as well as zingers and keep it interesting, as well as his extemporaneous talents which have usually been better than his prepared script readings--which served him especially well this week when faced with teleprompter problems mid-speech.
when Bill Clinton talks about economic policy and job creation, folks believe him..therefore, I think he accomplished his mission.. Agree with most of your takes except the Beyonce stuff.. which I consider to be small potatoes..
I still love Bill Clinton, and I suspect a lot of folks my age and especially older find him quite reassuring.
Also, the "special guest" rumor was started by fucking blue-check randos! See here: https://x.com/BFriedmanDC/status/1826827605330329850
I'll join the others disagreeing about Bill Clinton. I actually thought his quieter demeanor was a nice contrast from the pulpit style of most everyone else. He should have been shorter though.
Ann Richards' daughter spoke briefly as the director of some organization and I couldn't understand anything she said. Others I thought were meh were Klobuchar, a woman running for Congress in California (missed her name, very theatrical), Pelosi, Ted Lieu, Maura Healey, and Josh Shapiro.
I was very impressed by Hakeem Jeffries and Wes Moore.