61.   In mid-summer, we had a couple of weeks of televised gymnastics, to be followed in August by soul- and patriotism-stirring political conventions.

62.   In July, before the political conventions, Congress sent Clinton bills he signed to raise the minimum wage, overhaul welfare and expand access to health insurance.

63.   In made-for-TV events like political conventions, even the signs are scripted.

64.   In other words, this is a dangerous area for a political convention.

65.   In San Diego, for instance, MTV will be providing its first-ever live, nightly coverage of a political convention.

66.   In the past, political conventions have revolved around the drama of delegates selecting a presidential and vice-presidential nominee or fights over platform issues.

67.   Indeed, a crucial formal step toward that transition was to have taken place next Saturday during a rare political convention of the Syrian Baath party.

68.   In theory, under post-Watergate reforms, national political conventions are non-corporate affairs.

69.   Ironically, Congress authorized those federal subsidies to stop all private funding of political conventions.

70.   It is a long distance from the political conventions that nominated Al Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt to the weeklong infomercials that are called conventions today.