RNC '08: Alternate Schedule & Coverage Scenarios

Monday night's speaker session is cancelled because of Gustav, a regrettable but necessary move by the McCain campaign. That means 4 nights of speakers will be compressed into 3, and that's if New Orleans is spared the brunt of the storm. Given that the schedule was already jam-packed with high-profile speakers, it's going to be difficult to get everyone of note a good speaking slot -- in marked contrast with the Democrats who put Ted Strickland and Tammy Duckworth in prime time leaving 30 minutes of idle network chatter most nights.

First, I can only assume that the media will not punish McCain for doing the right thing by giving the convention 4 hours of network prime time just as they did in Denver. That would mean 90 minutes of coverage on Wednesday and Thursday nights, or 2 hours of coverage on Thursday night.

Here's how things could unfold in primetime under a 60-90-90 schedule:

Tuesday Night

• Joe Lieberman
• Rudy Giuliani

Wednesday Night -- all women speakers, possibly a first in Convention history

• Laura Bush
• Cindy McCain
• Sarah Palin

Thursday Night

• Bobby Jindal -- via satellite from the recovery zone
• John McCain

Under a 60-60-120 schedule, you would move Palin to end the convention with a bang on Thursday night, foregoing the traditional "VP night" but giving the networks something worthy of 2 hours of network coverage, particularly if Jindal is able to give a speech about the recovery via satellite -- a big if.

I have a slight preference for this approach. Having the VP speak directly before the nominee was the custom until the 1992 D / 1996 R conventions. And given the intense interest Palin has generated, it would make for solid ratings on Thursday night, when we have our best chance at capturing the attention of the American people. Given how ephemeral convention bounces can be (look at Obama), it probably makes the most sense to end with a bang with two hours of primetime.

This assumes that the levees don't breach, or even if they do, that enough people have gotten out to spare us the images and reality of human suffering we saw three years ago. If Gustav forces a further postponement of the Tuesday schedule, it might be a moot point. The networks would be forced to jam four nights of coverage into two. (If we have a convention at all...)