One interesting theme from this year is that the conflict between what conventions are supposed to be, and what they really are is being drawn out on both the Democrat and Republican sides.

Democrats are facing what will likely be the first truly contested convention in decades, with Clinton positioning her candidacy to challenge for the nomination all the way to the convention.  Many Democrat insiders (including DNC chair Howard Dean) want the delegate counts worked out by the end of June latest, so that the convention can be only a formality. 

Meanwhile, the Ron Paul challenge to McCain’s presumptive nomination is challenging the notion that the GOP convention in Minnesota should be a coronation of McCain devoid of debate or anything that might not be favorable to McCain. Paul supporters say they want to be in Minnesota to ensure that Paul gets to speak at the convention and to be there to push the free-market, limited government, libertarian views of their candidate.  (Let’s not forget it was Republican saint Ronald Reagan who once said “I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism.”)

The view of Minnesota as simply a formality for McCain was expressed during yesterday’s events in Nevada where Ron Paul supporters challenged attempts by GOP party officials to push through a McCain slate of delegates:

Despite a Paul majority in delegates, McCain will win Nevada support at the national convention, said Ryan Erwin, a Republican consultant from Las Vegas who supports McCain.

“This is still a McCain convention,” Erwin said, adding that enthusiasm for Paul’s speech was for his message, not necessarily his candidacy. “There are parts of his message that the entire Republican base likes.

“But at the end of the day, part of the job of being a national delegate is to do what is best for the party in November. And that means supporting the party’s nominee.”

But that view rejects the fact that national conventions are ostensibly for the purpose of selecting the nominee.  And that selection process is the justification for the over four million in taxpayer funding that each major party receives to hold the convention.  (Interestingly, the timing of the conventions is now determined by efforts to maximize the public general election money.) 

My view is that if the GOP and the McCain organization want the convention to be a four day long press conference for McCain’s candidacy they shouldn’t be doing it on the taxpayers dime.  As long as they take the public’s money - and I don’t think they should - they need to accept that the purpose is to pick a nominee, meaning that forcing out or silencing dissenting delegates who don’t support the presumptive nominee is a violation of their justification for taking money from the public’s coffers.