Badge of Poverty

Perhaps to distance themselves from Romney's vast wealth (estimated at $250 million – twice the amount of the last eight presidents combined) and to connect with middle-class voters, party speakers on both sides touted their humble beginnings. Barack and Michelle Obama spoke frequently of their working-class upbringing, of graduating with a mountain of debt in school loans and of the sacrifices their parents made to provide a better future.

"In the end, the American dream is not a sprint or even a marathon, but a relay said San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro. "Our families don't always cross the finish line in one generation, but passes on to the next the fruits of their labor."

Republicans, too, claim to be the party that protects the poor. Speakers from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to Secretary of State Rice touted their poor upbringings. Ted Cruz, Senate candidate for Texas, took the cake when telling the story of his father who was imprisoned and tortured in Cuba before fleeing to the United States in 1957 with $100 sewn into his underwear.

Short on Specifics

Despite a policy-laden speech from former president Bill Clinton, none of the speakers at the Republican or Democratic national conventions had much in the way of specific plans to offer to voters. Regardless of who wins, neither candidate is likely to control both the House of Representatives and the Senate, ensuring more years of gridlock and partisanship. Both candidates were good at painting a broad picture of the change and renewal they would bring to the country, but neither candidate laid a roadmap of how they would achieve progress.

It's actually smart strategy to leave out the details, said analysts.

"Anybody is taking their life into their hands by offering very much specific detail," Phil English, former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania and now a Washington lobbyist, told Bloomberg News. "Fundamental tax reform is for Republicans what fundamental health-care reform has been for Democrats," central to the party's agenda though the details are "very difficult to explain in the context of a campaign that involves 30-second TV spots."

The Unmentionables

Do you remember a guy named George W. Bush? How about an Alaskan gal named Sarah Palin? Republicans apparently do not, because there was virtually no mention of the polarizing past president and vice presidential candidate during the convention. Mitt Romney also failed to comment on the ongoing war in Afghanistan, becoming the first Republican nominee since 1952 to not mention war during his convention speech. Perhaps because public support has waned for the decade-long war in Afghanistan.

Obama spent more time discussing the military, but said nothing of unrest stateside. Occupy Wall Street, the grassroots protest movement against wealth inequality, was ignored completely.

Show Stealers

Romney and Obama did fine with their convention speeches, but both were upstaged by their opening acts. For Romney, the decision to feature "Mystery Guest" Hollywood actor and director Clint Eastwood minutes before his address looks disastrous in hindsight. Eastwood looked disheveled and yelled insults at an empty chair that served as a stand-in for President Obama. One in five views considered it the highlight of the convention coverage, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center.

On the left, the media was undecided if Obama was outdone more by former president Clinton or by his own wife. Clinton gave a rousing statistics-laden speech dismantling the Republican argument piece by piece. Like Eastwood's speech, much of Clinton's address was improvised – but the results were vastly different. Critics and supporters alike praised the former president's oratory skills.

Michelle Obama, as well, was widely praised for her speech that brought many viewers to tears. She drew a stark contrast between the two candidates without ever mentioning her husband's challenger by name.

Swing to the Bases

Both conventions were directly aimed at energizing their base of supporters rather than reaching toward the center of the aisle. Democrat speakers only had to allude to hot button issues like same-sex marriage, reproductive rights and immigration reform to bring crowds to their feet. Republicans were more cautious in mentioning far-right positions on abortion and personhood laws, but tore into the opposition with popular attacks on national debt and runaway government spending. With the country nearly evenly divided, many wonder if there are any true undecided voters left to win.

Bounceless in the Polls

After the RNC Romney managed only a slight bounce in voter support, have we seen the death of the convention bounce, wondered The Washington Post? Does this mean that political conventions are now irrelevant?

"This may just be the new normal. While past nominees have managed much more significant bounces, that probably just wasn't realistic for Romney or Obama this year. The best each could probably hope for is a few points on the margins," said The Washington Post's Aaron Blake.

Shortly after the conclusion of the Democratic convention, however, Obama received a good old fashioned poll bounce, leapfrogging Romney in the daily Reuters/Ipsos poll 46 percent to 44 percent.

"The bump is actually happening. I know there was some debate whether it would happen… but it's here," said Ipsos pollster Julia Clark to Reuters.

Still, Maureen Dowd called conventions "the only reality shows nobody wants to watch" because politics have become so artificial that there is no chance for spontaneity. Voters find them boring and predictable.

The Changing Face of America

Perhaps the most visual difference between the republican and democratic conventions was in the crowds themselves. Any non-white republican at the RNC appeared to be on stage, while the spectators were an overwhelming sea of Caucasian delegates. It would be a mistake for Republicans to not broaden its base beyond its mainstay of white, male voters. Minority groups are quickly becoming the majority in America, and no party that ignores the Latino vote or the African-American vote will continue to be a major force in politics.

The Democrats are targeting Latino voters hard, a voting block they see as a lifeline as union power fades. San Antonio Mayor Castro became the first Latino to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention.

"Republicans are unlikely to sit idly by and allow Democrats to cement their dominance among the growing minority population: GOP strategists know they must make inroads with these groups, particularly Hispanics," said political analyst Geoffrey Skelley of the University of Virginia Center for Politics in The Free Lance-Star. "It will be interesting to see how the two-party system adjusts to a future in which white Americans form only a plurality of the population, not a majority."

The author is a freelance writer living in New York City