There are competing theories suggesting that it could be halftime in America right now. But it's certainly halftime for the party conventions.
The Democratic National Convention gets underway in Charlotte tomorrow, following last week's Republican Convention in Tampa. After accepting his party's nomination in Tampa, Governor Mitt Romney returned to the campaign trail this weekend, suggesting that he's ready to be "coach" and has a plan to return America to a "winning season." As Governor Romney continues to take his message across the country, many of his top surrogates will be in Charlotte to provide rapid response to the Democratic message, as well as to build on their apparent polling edge in the swing state.
But despite the sports analogies and partisan battles, this week is expected to belong to the Democrats and President Obama. The party will call its convention to order tomorrow and build toward the President's nomination acceptance speech Thursday night in a massive outdoor stadium that holds nearly 75,000. Will the Democrats rally their party as effectively as Republicans? And now that Labor Day is upon us and the campaign is in full swing, will we get a clearer picture of who the stronger candidate is heading toward November?
All of that and more is on the table when we see you at noon ET on NOW.
PANEL
Kelefa Sanneh, The New Yorker
Jonathan Alter, Bloomberg View/msnbc Political Analyst
GUESTS
Fmr. Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA), NBC News Political Analyst
Sam Stein, The Huffington Post/msnbc Contributor (@samsteinhp)
P.J. Crowley, Fmr. Asst. Sec. of State/Fmr. State Dept. Spokesman (@pjcrowley)
Susan Glasser, Editor in Chief, Foreign Policy
