AEI's "Conventional Wisdom"

This year's political conventions are taking place unusually late. The Democratic convention will be the party's forty-fifth convention, and the Republicans', the party's thirty ninth. The GOP's assemblage will be the latest convention ever held. AEI's July/August Political Report opened by noting that in the last open contest in 2000, nearly 60 percent said they made up their minds during or after the conventions. That year, 10 percent said they made up their minds during the conventions. Fourteen percent gave that response in 2004. The report also looked at which candidate led in the polls around Labor Day and how that candidate fared on Election Day.

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National party conventions have a long history, dating to 1832 for the Democratic Party and 1856 for the Republican Party. AEI scholars have examined the history of the conventions and their relevance to today. In April, Michael Barone wrote that the Democratic nominating contest would almost certainly not go to the convention and argued that old-style conventions operated as a communications medium at a time when other communications media were unavailable. Norman J. Ornstein noted that from 1872 to 1952, contested conventions were the norm, but since 1952, not one has gone to a second ballot. More recently, David Frum suggested transforming national conventions from coronations to occasions to introduce the party to the next generation of political talent.

• AEI's Election Watch team--including Barone, Ornstein, Karlyn Bowman, and John C. Fortier--will next meet to discuss the 2008 race on September 18.
• The latest issue of the Institute's monthly Political Report tracks conventions and voting, issue match-ups, China, statehouse races, and states in play.
• AEI's "The Definitive Guide to the Convention Bounce" tracks how nominees performed in postconvention polling from 1976 to 2004.

Other topics:

Economic Policy Studies

• Doing Business with Latin America
• The Bottom of the Housing Market?
• A Healthier America
• Geoengineering: Thinking Outside the Climate Change Box
• The Tenth Anniversary of the Microsoft Lawsuit
• The "Threatened" Polar Bear?
• Barely Growing
• Our Environmental Condition
• Congress versus Colombia?
• The Treasury's New Financial Services Blueprint
• Getting Life-Saving Drugs from Lab to Bedside
• Beginning the 2009 Budget Process
• Stimulus Response
• The "R" Word
• A Bali Hai Note on Climate Change
• Singing the Housing Market Blues
• Flinching on Free Trade
• Climate Policy beyond Kyoto
• Biotech Drugs Change the Patent Game
• Taxing Private Equity Profits
• Toxic Toys and Chinese Trade
• The Subprime Shuffle | The International Credit Crisis
• Revisiting the Corporate Income Tax
• Bad Reviews for the FDA?
• Global Warming
• The Housing Slump
• The U.S. Economic Engine
• Speed Bumps Ahead for the Chinese Economy?
• The 2007 Farm Bill and Beyond
• Reforming the Tax System
• Mixed Signals from the Fed
• Bulls or Bears Ahead for the U.S. Economy?
• World AIDS Day 2006
• Corporations and U.S. Competitiveness
• Dow High
• 300 Million Strong and Growing
• The Nobel Peace Prize and Development Policy
• Mixed Signals for the U.S. Economy
• One Hundred Years of the FDA
• The State of the U.S. Economy
• Energy Crunch
• The Taxman Cometh
• The Health Disparities Myth
• Backing Biotech
• Fixing the Health Care System
• Doha Dead-End?
• Strengthening the U.S. Economy
• The Global Fight against HIV/AIDS
• Asia
• Energy Companies on Trial
• Reforming the Tax System
• Bush Names Bernanke to Head Federal Reserve
• Gulf Coast Rebuilding
• The State of American Labor
• China and the Global Economy
• The G-8 Summit and Aid Programs for Africa
• Challenges for the World Bank and for Fighting Poverty Abroad
• Checking Up on Environmental Health
• Danger on the Rails
• The Future of Social Security

Foreign and Defense Policy Studies

• Russia, Georgia, and the Challenge to the West
• U.S. Security Cooperation in Africa
• Iraq Stands Up
• Iran's Intransigence
• Food Crisis Tops G8's Agenda
• Legitimizing the Pyongyang Regime?
• Mugabe's Death Grip on Zimbabwe
• Lisbon on Life Support
• Bush's Visit Marks High Transatlantic Tide
• Earthquake Exposes Fault Lines in China's Civic Culture
• An End to Nuclear Weapons?
• The Military We Need
• Business as Usual at the Kremlin
• Fragile Progress in Iraq as Petraeus Returns to Congress
• Taiwan's Election and Cross-Strait Tensions
• Iraq Five Years Later: What's Next?
• America and Australia: "Permanent Friends"
• Replaying the Cold War?
• Following Fidel
• Aiding Africa
• The Assassination of Benazir Bhutto and the Future of Pakistan
• A Narrow Victory for Venezuelan Democracy
• The Pakistan Conundrum
• Fukuda's First Visit to Washington
• Transatlantic Connections | A Dangerous Neighborhood
• The Powder Keg That Is Pakistan
• Putin's Power Play
• Columbus Day and Transatlantic Affairs
• Africa Takes Center Stage
• No Middle Way in Iraq
• Kremlinologies Old and New: Russia and Japan
• Laboring to Divest from Iran
• Talking with Tehran
• Japan's Vote, America's Choice
• Pyongyang's Promises
• The Long War on Terror
• The G8 Summit Agenda
• Global Investment in Iran: Interactive
• Sarkozy's Victory and the Transatlantic Outlook
• Iraq War Showdown
• Japan, China, and U.S. Alliances in Asia
• Progress in the Iraq War
• President Bush's Latin American Tour
• Confronting Iran
• Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq
• Giving Thanks for the Troops
• The North Korean Nuclear Threat
• Shoring Up Alliances
• Strengthening the Military
• Progress in the War on Terror
• Iran Rebuffs the UN Security Council
• Post-9/11 Security
• In the Company of Dictators
• Assessing U.S. Foreign Policy before the G8 Summit
• North Korea's Weapons Programs
• Progress in Iraq
• Remembering Our Soldiers
• Intelligence Reform
• President Hu Comes to Washington
• Iraq, Three Years On
• The Iranian Nuclear Threat
• Toward Victory in Iraq
• Iraq and the War on Terror
• An Agenda for Latin America
• Iraq Votes
• Root and Branch Reform of the United Nations
• Gaza Withdrawal--Pathway to Peace?
• China and the Global Economy
• The G-8 Summit and Aid Programs for Africa
• Challenges for the World Bank and for Fighting Poverty Abroad
• Military Restructuring and U.S. Strategic Aims
• Intelligence Reform
• Zimbabwe: An Outpost of Tyranny
• Aiding the Tsunami-Stricken Region
• Coming to Terms with the Dangerous Enigma of North Korea

Social and Political Studies

• Sports, Integrity, and Human Achievement
• Attorney General Mukasey at AEI
• Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: Exceptional America
• A Nation (Still) at Risk
• Pope Benedict XVI's First Visit to the United States
• The 2008 State of the Union
• The Election Begins
• Legal Scholarship That Serves the Public Interest
• The Bounty of America
• Keeping Our Promises to Veterans
• American (Un)Happiness and Economic Security
• The Supreme Court: Back in Business
• Back to School 2007
• Unconventional Wisdom about American Workers
• Congress Is Back
• Independence Day: The Idea and Practice of Freedom
• Protecting Political Speech
• Paying for College: New Trends, New Questions
• The Challenges Ahead Abroad and at Home
• NCLB Report Card
• The 110th Congress
• Previewing the Midterm Elections
• Revisiting Welfare Reform
• Celebrating and Preserving Freedom
• Securing Our Borders
• Previewing the Midterm Elections
• Immigration Reform
• Budget Blowout
• Lobbying Reform Moves Forward
• Lone Star Redistricting Goes to the Supreme Court
• Celebrating Past Presidents
• State of the Union 2006
• Toward Equal Opportunity
• The Alito Hearings
• Presidential Powers in the Post-9/11 World
• Faith and Freedom
• The High Costs of Education
• President Bush's Latest Supreme Court Nominee
• Hurricane Katrina's Wake
• Grading the Department of Education after Twenty-Five Years
• Maintaining a Healthy Atmosphere for Drug Development
• Supreme Court Controversies
• Lessons in Urban School Reform
• The Future of Social Security