I realize foreign policy events are the subject of the day, but you'll have to excuse me because I'm running about a half a week behind. Last week I attended the Democratic National Convention, but unfortunately fell ill during the event (something about wandering around in pouring rain and then walking into frigid air conditioning, perhaps). Which is why I'm running behind this week.

But an important question arose during the convention season, which I do feel is worth exploring. It was phrased many ways but can be boiled down to: have national nominating conventions outlived their usefulness? Like all philosophical questions, the answer depends on your definition of terms, but it's one at least worth asking. Put another way, the chatter among the pundit class kept coming back to the question of whether future conventions might be condensed into a single-day event, rather than multi-day extravaganzas.

Part of this thinking ("conventional thinking" one might call it, if one were looking for a cheap laugh) most likely stems from the fact that professional pundits (those on expense accounts, in other words) were visibly worn out in Charlotte. The Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention appeared on each others' heels this year, with absolutely no break between the two. This wasn't a problem for the partisans on either side, but it was indeed exhausting for the professional journalists covering both events. I spoke to very conservative and very liberal "A-list" media folks who all said almost exactly the same thing: "The last two weeks have been such a blur, it's hard to keep it all straight in my mind." Which leads to wondering if the media won't eventually pull back on their own coverage -- further than they already have, that is.

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I must come out forthright and say I will be bitter about tonight regardless of the quality of the speeches. The DNC's decision to shift the venue from the stadium that could seat 70,000 to the convention center which seats about 22,000 has prevented me from attending the last night of the convention. I will still give my thoughts on the night but be aware I was not present for the speeches or events that took place.

The Democratic National Convention's final night brought out a lot of star power in the hope of generating a large audience for Obama. Celebrities like Eva Longoria and Scarlet Johansson spoke impressively on Obama's progress in the White House and the importance of keeping the American dream alive.

Emotions ran high when Beau Biden nominated his own father as the vice president and when he asked if anyone objected, a silence spread which was so absolute one could hear a pin drop. John Kerry spoke before Biden and attempted to discredit Mitt Romney as a candidate with some cheesy jokes and shots at his record. His best line was, "don't outsource the job of commander in chief," when talking about Romney's time at Bain Capital and outsourcing jobs overseas.

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[Program Note: This article actually ran last week, in the Huffington Post, as part of a special convention-week series they asked me to participate in. Because I was away while it posted, I didn't get the opportunity to post it here, so I am tossing it out there for anyone who missed it last week. I'm still in the process of cleaning up after the convention, and will continue to do so all week long.]

Here's a radical thought, as we change full-steam into convention season: Could the "marijuana vote" propel Barack Obama to victory in the upcoming election? This may sound a little far-fetched (and might indeed provoke "What are you smoking, dude?" sorts of comments) so please allow me to explain how this demographic could become key to the entire election, in one particular state.

The conventional wisdom among the inside-the-Beltway pundit class seems to currently be gelling around this year's oversimplification of the American voting public: 2012 will be a "base" election (as opposed to a "swing vote" election). Polling between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney seems to indicate that almost everyone has already made up their minds, and the pool of "undecided" voters has shrunk to five percent or less. What this could mean is both candidates spending the rest of the election firing up their base and concentrating on "get out the vote" efforts. What it might also mean during the conventions is both candidates tossing red meat to their base with abandon, in an effort to generate a wave of enthusiasm which could carry the day in November.

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[Program Note: Due to getting sick in the middle of the Democratic National Convention last week, we are woefully behind in posting convention articles. We do apologize for this lapse, and regret the inconvenience. Below is the second night's response from our roving reporter, Malcom Fox. I'll have some further thoughts on the convention as well to post here, so I hope everyone isn't already tired of hearing about it already. Again, this was due to illness and could not be avoided.]

-- Chris Weigant

Democratic National Convention, Night Two

What a disappointment from the Democratic Party. All of the excitement generated by the sensational lineup of speakers was extinguished by the dull repetitive speeches that made up the majority of Night Two of the convention. The common denominator was "Romney is an inadequate candidate." However, all Democrats know of Romney's inadequacy -- I would go so far as to say the majority of the American public knows. The mass appeal of the previous night was the amount of positive focus from the Democrats with the occasional jibe at Romney from speakers like Castro and Patrick. Speakers spoke about Obama in generic ways without detailed explanation of his successful policies. In addition, the regular Joe Shmoes who occupied an unnecessarily large time slot trashed Romney. The ordinary citizens should talk solely on how Obama's policies benefited them like yesterday, not point out Romney's negatives. The two motifs of small business aided by the government and women's equality reigned supreme throughout the night. The momentum gained by the performance of the previous night was squandered by the overly negative critique of Romney throughout the entire night.

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Well, I'm not getting rid of all of health care reform. Of course there are a number of things that I like in health care reform that I'm going to put in place. One is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage. Two is to assure that the marketplace allows for individuals to have policies that cover their family up to whatever age they might like.
-- Mitt Romney, on yesterday's Meet The Press.

[This is breaking news from Fictional News Service...] We're here with Governor Romney, who has called a press conference to explain his new thinking on health care reform. Fresh off his interview with NBC's David Gregory over the weekend, Mitt seems to be transitioning his campaign into "Etch A Sketching" some of his past policy positions. One might wonder about the timing of such a move, coming as it does after the Republican National Convention, where any hint of deviance from the hardcore conservative line would likely not have received too warm a welcome from the crowd.

Governor Romney has now appeared and has opened up the floor to questions about his new plans for health care reform. We now take you to the podium, live:

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I am sitting here listening to the speakers at the last day of the Democratic National Convention. Call it a liveblog. I will be posting here throughout the night, although I am going to shut things down when the final hour begins, so I can pay attention to the most important speakers. As I write, Tammy Baldwin is taking the stage, for context.

Attending the Democratic National Convention has, so far, been the experience of a lifetime. It has been so overwhelming that I haven't had time to type out any thoughts or reactions yet. I hope to make up for this in the next few days, and to jot down some random thoughts tonight.

Getting There

Our airplane flight out was somewhat of a nightmare, as the plane was held in Phoenix because of concerns about thunderstorms. Of course, Fox News immediately went live on the air with the conspiracy theory that Obama himself had caused the bad weather and that he really didn't want us to attend. Or something -- it's hard to tell what with all the nonsense and folderol being broadcast about Democrats and the weather this week. More on that in a bit. But enough travel stories, as they are really only interesting to people on the same flight in any case.

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Program Note: The following article appeared on the Irish Times website. Yes, we now have two bloggers in the family! It was written for an Irish audience, so please take this perspective into account while reading it.

-- Chris Weigant

An Irishwoman's Outlook On The Democratic Convention

September 2nd, 2012

My name is Fiona Weigant, and I will be travelling to the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina as part of the blogging press. As a young girl growing up in Dublin, I never dreamed I'd be making a trip to such an event. My road to the convention started four years ago when American politics was energized by Barack Obama's campaign. As a legal alien ("green card" holder) I had followed the campaign with a certain amount of distance, given the fact that I could not vote. I felt I had a stake in the outcome, yet I was unable to influence the result.

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The first night had two large overarching themes: women's rights, and President Obama's accomplishments. A multitude of women spoke not only about abortion and being pro-choice, but also about equal pay for equal labor. However, the dominating pattern was the constant praise of President Obama, and the effectiveness of his policies. Obama's ability to save the auto industry and create jobs for twenty-nine consecutive months was a focal point in why he deserved to be re-elected. In addition, Obamacare and benefits for veterans were mentioned repeatedly by speakers. Last but not least, diversity was constantly stressed. I lost count of the number of times I heard the line, "you should be able to defend the country you love, regardless of who you love." Overall, a very strong performance by the Democrats -- they were consistent in their backing of Obama, and unlike the Republicans, they gave examples of concrete policies that have actually made a difference.

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OK, folks, this conventioneering is one whale of a lot more time consuming than I had thought. I apologize for being remiss in posting articles here. To slightly rectify this situation, I am going to post two articles in the next hour or so from our roving correspondents, Malcom Fox and none other than Mrs. Chris Weigant herself, who is here in Charlotte with me as an international blogger. It is 2:00 A.M. already, so I won't be able to write out my impressions of days one and two until tomorrow, again, for which I do apologize. I will be working through the backlog tomorrow, I promise.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

Just a quick update as the Democratic National Convention gets rolling here.

I wrote a new article last week which is now appearing on the Huffington Post, but I don't have access to the text file of the article right now, nor do I have time to copy and paste and do a bunch of formatting. So all I have to offer is a link.

More on the convention later, although I warn everyone that the schedule here is so hectic that it may be until tomorrow before I get a chance to write about Tuesday's convention events.

More later…

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant