US Politics Analysis: Romney's Team to Republican Convention --- Please, No Fiery Speeches

Mitt Romney speaking on Saturday in Ohio

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Despite the roster of renowned conservative politicians scheduled to speak at the convention, Romney's campaign will aim to present a bland espousal of generic conservative ideas with as little of the controversial and substantial as possible. We will witness a rally for vague concepts like "limited government" and 'individual freedom' designed to present a unified –-- and non-threatening --- Republican face to the rest of the nation.

But the Republican Convention is still important in that it gives Romney one last chance, before the critical television debates with President Obama, to project some personality into his campaign. In his acceptance speech Mitt needs to show that he can empathise with everyday Americans, those who do not employ tax accountants or make small bets of $10,000.

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US Politics: Grassroots Activism, American Style (Haddigan)

On Thursday afternoon, on a national radio talk show, Sarah Palin finally endorsed Catherine O’Donnell’s campaign to be the next Senator from Delaware. Within hours, after Palin repeated her backing for O’Donnell via Twitter and Facebook, the Internet was swamped with the news. Nothing too surprising about that: this is the way politics is conducted in the US. To people in Britain, "activist" conjures a picture of a small group trudging through streets posting leaflets every election year. Some folks might occasionally remember a canvaser knocking on their door to solicit their vote. But the grassroots activism of America is an alien concept.

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