Kilgore Ben Jacobs sees them as the political equivalent of an appendix:
At this point, conventions are merely an obsolete vestige of an earlier era in politics. They serve no real purpose, other than a simple gathering, but that’s fine. After all, dentists and comic book fans have conventions, shouldn’t politicians too?
Frum wishes American conventions were more like British ones:
It would be wrong to say no real work gets done at a convention. New political talent is surveyed, party activists network, fundraising begins for the next cycle. But what does not happen is open political work: policy discussion, platform debate, questions and answers between party supporters and party leaders. As the conventions have expanded into ever-grander extravaganzas, politics has retreated from view.
He advocates shortening them. Mataconis agrees.
The Dish 