Do you think that Obama and McCain are not the candidates of their parties? Is there a real chance that they will not receive the nominations pro forma?

If there is such a chance, then a convention might play a useful role. Without such a chance, they represent expensive political theater that is tedious, boring, and filling air time that could better be spent broadcasting almost anything else.

As a political scientist I recognize that the conventions have some value as the jumping-off point for the hyping of the fall campaign. But spending hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money (through the federal subsidies to the conventions, state and local money used for security and infrastructure etc.) on two self-congratulatory infomercials that the press inexplicably treats as something other than a spectacle designed for their consumption is simply a farce. If Al and Tipper want to make out on a stage in front of thousands of people, they (or the Democratic Party, if that's how they swing) should pay for it themselves.

The convention is there for a reason. I think there should be more accountability and review of our election processes.