America's presidential election season is about to amp up, with much of television again poised to switch on the blinding wattage of political theater. On July 26, Democrats will convene four days of gaseous oratory in Boston—they don't call it Beantown for nothing—and Republicans will fire up their own partisan flatulence Aug. 30-Sept. 2 in New York. The marquees are filling. Publishing's best-selling Big Bubba and half of Hollywood are Boston bound, and California's grinning, high-beam governor will wrap a brawny arm around Madison Square Garden and assure us the GOP is "terrific." Expect demonstrations, too. Unease about potential terrorism will hover darkly over both convention cities. So will the vapor trail of Michael Moore. Hold your nose. These spin-orgies will be the ultimate fictions of campaign coverage and, as such, hardly distinguishable from the rest of TV's lens-tailored, faux-reality madness.
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