Fault Lines
Conventions 2012: The Price of the Party
Fault Lines travels to the Republican and Democratic Conventions and asks what the spectacle is worth.
Fault Lines Last Modified: 12 Sep 2012 15:07

The United States is in the midst of its most expensive election season ever.

It is not what Washington pundits mean when they say that this year's presidential race will be won or lost on the economy.

Nonetheless, almost $6bn will be spent trying to get Republican and Democratic candidates into office.

Virtually unlimited cash can buy many things - hundreds of hours of television advertising, automated phone calls, a really big party. But who is paying? And what is the price exacted of the country's democracy?

There are three months left until voting day.

And Sebastian Walker and the Fault Lines team travel from the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, to examine the spectacle being broadcast on US screens.

So what its worth for those who find themselves outside the political arena?

Fault Lines can be seen on Al Jazeera English each week at the following times GMT: Tuesday: 2230; Wednesday: 0930; Thursday: 0330; Friday: 1630; Saturday: 2230; Sunday: 0930; Monday: 0330; Tuesday: 1630.

Click here for more Fault Lines.

200
Source:
Al Jazeera
Topics in this article
People
Country
City
Featured on Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera's exclusive publishing of a key Guantanamo prison military document lays bare the brutality of force-feeding.
Former military official says poverty and anger in indigenous communities mean conditions for an "insurgency" are ripe.
A four-part series that gives a rare insight into the country on the move, with history in tow.
Series on the Palestinian 'catastrophe' of 1948 that led to dispossession and conflict that still endures.
Featured
Syria: The War Within
Two years since the start of the uprising, rebels and Assad's forces remain locked in conflict.
China Rising
A four-part series that gives a rare insight into the country on the move, with history in tow.
Iran Elections
News and analysis of 2013 presidential contest as Ahmadinejad finishes second term.
Crisis in Bangladesh
Extensive coverage of war crimes tribunals and controversial calls for blasphemy laws.
Al-Nakba
Series on the Palestinian 'catastrophe' of 1948 that led to dispossession and conflict that still endures.
join our mailing list