Breaking down the speeches: The good, the bad, and the way too long
DENVER - Here's a quick look at the highs and lows of convention speeches.
The Good:
William Jennings Bryan - 1896 Democratic Convention, Chicago: "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."
Barbara Jordan - 1976 Democratic National Convention keynote address in New York: "Who then will speak for the common good."
Ronald Reagan's acceptance speech at the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas:
"We didn't discover our values in a poll taken a week before the convention. And we didn't set a weather vane on top of the Golden Gate Bridge before we started talking about the American family.
The choices this year are not just between two different personalities, or between two political parties. They are between two different visions of the future, two fundamentally different ways of governing - their government of pessimism, fear and limits - or ours of hope, confidence and growth."
Barack Obama's 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote address in Boston took on a life of its own and ultimately prodded his current bid for the White House:
"The pundits, the pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too: We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States."
The Bad:
Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton's wearisome nominating speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta is often considered among the worst convention speeches ever. Not for what he said, but for how long what was supposed to be a 15-minute speech lasted - more than 30 minutes. Sometimes it seems like it's still going.
Walter Mondale - 1984 Democratic National Convention acceptance speech in San Francisco: "Let's tell the truth. It must be done, it must be done. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did."
If you listen carefully, you can hear Mondale's campaign going down the drain in the background.
Vice President George H.W. Bush - 1988 Republican National Convention acceptance speech: "Read my lips: no new taxes."
Patrick Buchanan - 1992 Republican National Convention speech in Houston:
"There is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America. It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we will one day be as was the Cold War itself."
Many point to that speech as turning off moderates and independents that election.