| Get Jonathan Bernstein's newsletter every morning in your inbox. Click here to subscribe. Let's get the theater criticism out of the way first. The second night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention had two big hits: the roll call of the states, which was a wonderful patriotic cavalcade, and a film introducing Dr. Jill Biden, which began in earnest to tell the story of the nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden. There was also one clear flop. The "keynote" address, featuring 17 young Democratic politicians, just didn't work. It was worth a shot, especially given a virtual format that makes a single long speech difficult to stage, but the execution was all wrong. We never got a good sense of who the politicians swapping off lines really were, and by the time Georgia's Stacey Abrams got to talk, she didn't have enough time to deliver anything sounding like her vision; in fact, she talked a lot about Biden, which isn't typically the job of the keynote speaker. Cut the group in half and double the time for Abrams, and perhaps it could've worked. The rest of the night was okay, remembering again that most viewers don't watch all the way through, but may see clips or coverage elsewhere. Jill Biden's speech was fine. So was another panel moderated by her husband, this one on health care. Former President Bill Clinton did his Secretary of Explaining Things bit, only this time at reduced length and without the live audience that brings out his best. A national-security segment with former Secretaries of State John Kerry and Colin Powell was also perfectly fine. None of it stood out, but it all checked off necessary boxes or produced useful video clips or helped push the general themes of the convention. I've been talking mostly about conventions as advertisement, but that's not all they're about. They're also an important part of representation. During campaigns, candidates and parties make promises, and then try to govern with those promises in mind. A general rule of thumb is that the more a promise is repeated, the more important it will be to the politician (and the party) once in office. Some are policy promises, such as those contained in the party platform, which Democrats adopted Tuesday night. But some are about how candidates will govern and who they'll be if they win. If we think of the convention in these terms, then the keynote address and other less-inspired moments can still be quite important. By featuring his Republican supporters, for instance, Biden is promising to act a certain way in office — open to deals with the other party. That doesn't mean he won't be a partisan; Biden is and has always been a partisan Democrat, and may well be open to radical procedural reform if he can't make deals. After all, a lot of his former negotiating partners, such as Senators John McCain and Richard Lugar, are long gone, and there's been plenty of Republican-bashing so far. The convention is telling us — Biden is promising — that he'll be open to compromise, but also hinting that compromise with the current Republican Party may not be possible. I'll be listening for more clues about this as the convention goes on. What else are Democrats promising? They've focused their critique of President Donald Trump on competence above all; they say he's botched the pandemic and the economy and brought nothing but chaos, whereas Biden and other Democrats can restore normal, functioning government. They certainly have pushed specific policies in that regard, but what I've heard so far sounds more pragmatic and managerial than one might expect from the party. That, too, may change as the convention goes on. And as for Biden himself, we're being promised competence in office — but, more than anything, the empathy that Trump so conspicuously lacks. Biden's core as a politician, we're being told over and over this week, is that he cares deeply for others, and knows how to use that empathy to connect with citizens from all over. Again, we can certainly think of this in terms of advertising and appealing to various constituency groups. And of course that's part of the intent of every minute of the convention. But whether intended or not, what the candidate and the party are telling voters and telling themselves about how they'll act, what they'll do and who they'll be if elected really does matter down the road. 1. Marc J. Hetherington and Isaac D. Mehlhaff at the Monkey Cage on partisanship, public opinion and the pandemic. 2. Seth Masket on what defeat might mean for the Republican Party. 3. My Bloomberg Opinion colleague Timothy L. O'Brien on the Senate report on the Trump-Russia scandal. 4. Brian Faler on Trump's go-nowhere payroll-tax holiday. 5. And Alyssa Rosenberg on the first day of the Democratic convention. Get Early Returns every morning in your inbox. Click here to subscribe. Also subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more. You'll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, the Bloomberg Open and the Bloomberg Close. | 
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