During the last two weeks, the major political parties have carried out the traditional symbolic completion of their primary elections by selecting their nominees, who have each announced their vice presidential pick. The official tickets for the 2008 presidential election are Barack Obama/Joseph Biden and John McCain/Sarah Palin.

Both tickets are groundbreaking. Having a biracial presidential candidate is unheard of, and it has been a long time since there was a major female political figure in the Republican Party.

Speaking to a record-breaking crowd of 84,000 people, Obama accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination. After the ugly last few months of democratic feud were ended by Hillary Clinton’s bow-out, Obama became the first Democratic nominee to be selected by acclamation since Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

The Democratic National Convention was immense and largely without surprises with the exception of a trio of methamphetamine addicts caught plotting to assassinate Obama, lying in wait for him at the wrong hotel until they were arrested for driving under the influence.

Obama came out with a number of strong policy defenses and a number of open attacks on the McCain campaign, which were surprising after the generally hands-off campaign so far.

“It’s not because John McCain doesn’t care. It’s because John McCain doesn’t get it,” he proclaimed to the Democratic convention, to thunderous applause.

He also made strong statements against trickledown economics, government bailouts of big business, and privatization – once again, providing less of a specific policy and more of a general philosophy of governing. His critics were not surprised, but his supporters were delighted.

The Republican National Convention was relatively small and closely controlled, while outside protests and peace marches and at least one near-riot took place. According to ABC News, over 300 arrests were made, including journalists such as “Democracy Now” host, Amy Goodman.

The high security, which included huge numbers of riot police and a number of preemptive raids of perhaps questionable legality, represented an ideology of security that represented a great deal of the republican talking points for this election.

Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani both gave strong speeches at this convention.

“Listening to (the Democrats) you’d think we were in the middle of a great depression; that we are down, disrespected and incapable of prevailing against challenges facing us,” Thompson said, defining his idea of the differences between the parties.

Rudy Giuliani led the delegates in a chant of “drill baby drill,” and attacked Obama’s inexperience and reliance on advising.

Conspicuously absent was President George W. Bush, who addressed the convention by streaming video and then disappeared from the proceedings entirely.

The Republican convention has been the focus of considerable criticism, both in the wider media – witness ABC’s characterization of Palin’s speech as “Stretching the Truth”- and on Guilford’s campus.

“It was depressing,” said Maria Rosales, assistant professor of political science. “And there were so many lies.”

These conventions have epitomized the “new style” of conventions, as Kyle Dell, assistant professor of political science, described it.

“It used to be that conventions were for party insiders, but now they play them both ways- both as an appeal to the activists and devotees who make up the party proper, and to Joe Sixpack watching at home. This creates a basic paradox,” Dell said.

What these conventions displayed was not just two parties, but two Americas. The Republican National Convention showed an America that was strong but burdened, and made weak by those unwilling to give up certain luxuries for security, power, and economic growth. The Democratic National Convention showed an America that was sickening unto death because of the malformed government that had weighed it down- and showed a cure that was only considered radical because the other option amounted to doing nothing.