Sep 17, 2012 4 min read

Now that the post-conventions dust has settled, it’s quite clear which presidential candidate benefitted most — Barack Obama.

Before the Republicans gathered in Tampa and the Democrats gathered in Charlotte, there was lots of talk about a supposed “enthusiasm gap” that had descended on the Obama campaign. What gap?

For three nights, Republicans heaped massive doses of anti-Obama rhetoric on its 2,286 delegates in the hall and on millions of television viewers. Yet, real enthusiasm for Romney seemed forced and limited.

When the Democrats got their turn a week later, there was little doubt that its 5,552 delegates are in full support of the president and his reelection hopes. In fact, according to one survey, on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention, there were more positive mentions of Obama (250) than there were favorable mentions of Mitt Romney (213) during the entire Republican National Convention. The final tally was 686 for Obama, compared to 213 for Romney. Obama’s “enthusiasm gap,” it turns out, evaporated right before the nation’s eyes.

That was inside the respective convention halls. At homes across the country, there was another gauge of interest (or lack of it) in the respective campaigns — television viewership. That, too, reveals a clear advantage for Obama.

During the final night of the Democratic convention, 35.71 million people tuned in to to see Vice President Joe Biden and President Obama in prime time. While only 30.3 million people got a chance to see Clint Eastwood having some sort of discourse with a chair and Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech.

Republicans would love to beat Obama. They just don’t seem to love the guy they picked to beat him. Democrats, though, obviously look kindly and enthusiastically upon their candidate.

While the Democratic National Convention got favorable reviews, even from some honest Republicans, the voter responses to the respective conventions seem even more problematic for Team Romney. You’d have to sift through a mountain of polls to find one that indicates Romney got the slightest “bounce” from the Republican convention. But within days, Obama’s “bounce” was obvious. He immediately picked up three points in Gallup’s head-to-head poll against Romney. That gave him a 50% to 44% advantage.

And his job approval numbers, too, greatly improved to 50%, when they’d been at 43% before the Democratic convention. The Republicans had calculated that three nights of anti-Obama sloganeering would somehow appeal to undecided voters, when the overall effects seem to have been quite the opposite.

You’d think his fellow Republicans would circle the wagons and defend Romney’s troubled candidacy. That isn’t happening.

Instead, Romney and his campaign are being called into question from some unlikely places. You talk about an “enthusiasm gap.” This is one — if I’ve ever seen one.

Rush Limbaugh now claims “If Obama wins, let me tell you what it’s the end of: The Republican Party.” Limbaugh’s dire prediction that Romney’s defeat will bring about the cancellation of all-things Republican would be sad, if it wasn’t so funny. His daily hyperbolic verbalizing is what makes him a huge radio draw. So his disappointment in the performance of the Romney campaign can’t be taken too seriously.

But Limbaugh’s fellow flame-throwing, rightwing media star, Laura Ingraham, is also sounding a call for retreat if Romney can’t overcome his own campaign pitfalls. “If you can’t beat Barack Obama with this record, then shut down the party. Shut it down, start new, with new people. Because this is a gimme election, or at least it should be,” says Ingraham.

Imagine that. Last month, Republicans were oh-so confident that the American voter would want to end any chances of another four years of Obama that they staked their fate on a candidate that hardly makes anybody’s heart flutter.

What a difference two national political conventions make. Democrats walked out of Charlotte with a distinct “bounce” in their steps (and in the polls for that matter), while Republicans are publically grumbling about the end of the Republican Party as we know it.

I thought those people were supposed to be tough. I guess I’m wrong.

Edward A. Owens is a three time Emmy Award winner and 20-year veteran of television news. Email him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net

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