A story just posted on Time.com:
A contradiction lies at the heart of the quadrennial presidential nominating conventions. These most grand celebrations of the democratic process are, in fact, private affairs, organized for club members of the political parties, not the general public. The best after-hours events are thrown for corporate sponsors and high-dollar donors, not voters, and the best hotel rooms are saved up for official delegates from the key swing states. The general public is not welcome too near the convention halls, let alone on the convention floors.
If you are just a regular voter, the very group that John McCain so desperately wants to impress, about as close as you can come to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul this September will be a triangle of pavement about 84 feet from the outside of the Xcel Energy Center, the sports arena where McCain plans to accept the nomination. Non-credentialed citizens at the Democratic convention in Denver will be directed to a fenced in portion of “Parking Lot A,” several football-field lengths away from the Pepsi Center, where the party will produce a late-August teleplay in honor of Barack Obama. Civil rights attorneys in both cities have filed motions in federal court arguing that the announced arrangements fall far short of what the constitution requires.