I have just returned from two weeks at the Democratic and Republican conventions where I was contributing a daily cartoon sketchbook to The Economist magazine. The conventions are grand affairs full of pomp, ceremony, high security,and political theatrics.
This year seemed to be particularly interesting because the presidential race is so close and each convention had a unique storyline. The democrats needed to resolve political infighting between the The Hillary Clinton supporters and the Obamaniacs. The Republicans needed to regain momentum after loosing the first day of their event (to Hurricane Gustuv) and then introduce a controversial Vice Presidential candidate to the world.
In both cases the respective parties acheived their goals. The Democrats ended with an impressive speech by Barack Obama in front of 70,000 (see photo above) while Sarah Palin galvanized the Republican base with her convention speech.
Below I have enclosed some samples of my sketches from the two conventions.
