One striking difference between this Convention and a British party conference is the absence of any debate about policy. Yes, there is a Republican platform document, but it is not debated at the Convention and there are no slots for Health, Education or the Economy as we are used to seeing at Conservative or Labour gatherings. This is an unashamed party rally, designed to rally and cheer the faithful and to tell a story about the virtues of their candidate that will resonate, through the media, to the voters outside.
You certainly become very aware of some of the differences, for good or ill, between American and British public culture. Here, the language employed by the keynote speakers is far more sentimental and more avowedly patriotic than you would hear in Britain. Each day's session begins and concludes with a prayer and speakers refer, naturally and without artifice, to God and to religion. There were videos about the Constitution and about the heroes of the Republican Party, the biggest cheers being reserved for images of Ronald Reagan.
Of the big speakers, former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson delivered the kind of speech that I could imagine Ken Clarke or Michael Heseltine giving, using wit and knockabout humour to drive home his serious message: McCain is a man of honour who will always put the country first; Obama lacks experience and stands for higher taxes and big government.
Thompson was there to rally the base behind McCain (though I noticed that Barbara Bush didn't seem to applaud his pro-life comments). Joe Lieberman, former Democrat and now an independent Senator, was there to reach out to floating voters. He called McCain a man who, as President, "our allies will trust and our enemies will fear". The GOP loved it. The big test will be whether the polls start to show independents shifting into the McCain camp.
