What's Up With the Democrat Convention

So, the latest news is that Billary -- yes, the combo of Bill and Hillary Clinton -- will get two of four days at the Democrat Convention in Denver.

The impact of Senator Clinton at the convention, at least at this point, is difficult to measure. It essentially breaks down into two schools of thought.

First, Mrs. Clinton and her husband power-played a weak Barack Obama into letting them exert undue influence at the convention. Mrs. Clinton lost to Mr. Obama. This much is clear. But, in Clintonland, nothing is as it seems. Mrs. Clinton will undertake great efforts to demonstrate to her supporters -- almost 50% of Democrat delegates and superdelegates -- that her candidacy not a complete waste of time. She hopes to put behind her the fact that she squandered tens of millions of dollars and came up short to a first-term U.S. Senator with less than 200 days experience in the United States Senate. In the end, Clinton could look incredibly strong, the Democrat party divided and Mr. Obama weak and unable, still, to "close the deal.

The second school of thought flips this premise on its head. In this one, Senator Obama shrewdly lets Mrs. Clinton have her roll call vote. Instead of nearing 1800 delegates that sided with her during the hotly contested campaign, Mrs. Clinton's showing is considerably less. Politico is already talking about the New York Senator receiving somewhere between 600 and 1,200 delegates during a first ballot. Such a "showing" would demonstrate Mrs. Clinton's waning influence in the Democrat Party.

We haven't even factored Bill Clinton into the equation. Given his harsh comments about Barack Obama and race, and his criticisms of the news media, anything could happen at the convention.

One thing is for sure, at least the convention will be interesting instead of the pre-packaged PR campaigns that conventions of the recent past have become.