I promised myself that I wouldn’t do a comparison test once both conventions were over… I hate when I break promises…

So, we’re gonna give this one to the Democrats. But before I start in on the specifics that made a difference, I just want to be clear about the purpose of the political convention… It’s an adult pep rally…

This is why I didn’t want to get into the comparison game because they’re all filled with enthusiasm, they’re all filled with excitement… every speech is inspirational. The reviews are always, “High-spirited, showing a united front.” In the end, they really just cancel each other out. So here are the couple of individual moments that stuck out for me:

The wive’s speeches: Both were good, but, Michelle Obama’s was better. She really stuck her landing – balancing knowledge and intelligence with real-people experiences. When she said they had nothing when they got together but love and debt, we all knew she meant that. For as much as Ann Romney tried to convince us that she has had struggles, we still feel like she has ALWAYS been in a position to pay away her struggles. Believable, but not convincing…

The Latino’s speeches: I loved this part. Our country has turned Latino into the flavor of the month, which, in itself is a bit selfish, but, if it champions an underrepresented groups, I’ll take it. Marco Rubio, Senator from Florida for the Republicans and Julian Castro, Mayor of San Antonio, Texas for the Democrats. I have to call this a draw on style & substance because individually, they both represent their parties well, their culture well and with true authenticity. This is a perfect example of two candidate who, if they were to run against one another in an election, would be exactly evenly matched. An independent voter’s nightmare or dream come true…

President Clinton’s speech: This sealed the deal for the Democrats and everybody knew it – on both sides. This is what I call political substance abuse. His speech was so fact heavy, it required several days thereafter for fact-checking. And they all checked out. While I knew his speech would be facts, facts, facts and fully accurate, it was actually fun to see. Bubba’s not a politician anymore, so, he can say anything he wants, however he wants to say it. So he did…

And so, in combination, Michelle, Julian and Bill were more solid than Ann, Mario and Chris Christie. Note, I left out mention of Christie’s actual speech because it was nothing more than his usual ill-mannered rant. God help the state of New Jersey…

But, after the fact, neither convention has had much impact on the polls. I think again, it’s because the lines from one candidate to the other are so exact, you knew which side you were on even before the first speech. Glad they had a nice party.

So next is the debates. Will they change anything? I say no; If you don’t know who the candidates really are before the debates, that’s a bad place to try and figure it out. Sure, the analysts and pundits say this is the real showdown, but…

I’ve always felt like time will reveal all and decisions such as this should be decided based on the whole of the experience, not a single event near the end. It’s been an intense nine months of Romney and four years of Obama. Use it all to make your decision…