The show must go on: Its champions chosen, DNC’s drama may lie away from the speeches

Every four years 

LIKE LEAP YEAR or the Olympics, conventions to nominate the presidential candidates of the Democratic and Republican parties only roll around every four years. But while the role of national conventions in shaping the country’s political direction is fabled, for the last 50 years the identity of the person who will be bestowed the presidential nomination has not been in doubt.

The last “open” convention (no nominee selected in advance) was in 1968. Since then, speculation about faithless delegates and “runaway” conventions has occasionally grown frothy, but in practice conventions have been highly orchestrated affairs, long on TV scripting and short on drama. Both parties have opted for a red, white, and blue showcase of frenzied supporters poised to kick off the last and most intense weeks of the campaign.