Never known as a big-venue speaker, Hillary Clinton will face a make-or-break moment Thursday night with multiple pitfalls, varying objectives and a variety of critical audiences.
Being a safe pick isn't a bad thing, and the Virginia senator is a disciplined messenger, has a positive persona and can help Clinton appeal to white males — a place where Trump has an edge.
Tony Schwartz spent 18 months working on Donald Trump's 1987 best-selling book. "I helped paint a vastly more appealing human being than he actually is," Schwartz says.
From his early days in real estate, Donald Trump has used his celebrity status to enhance his brand, including a 1990 Playboy cover appearance. Now, he's set to accept the GOP presidential nomination.
The high stakes of the Donald Trump-Ted Cruz brinkmanship brought to the flashpoint all the anger and tension pent up in the GOP convention over three days — and in the party over several decades.
Rudy Giuliani's rhetorical questions got the delegates vocally into the act and, by the climax of his speech, they were all on their feet and roaring — making the sports arena feel like a coliseum.
If it had not grown so strong in the South, among displaced workers, white evangelicals and older white males without college degrees, the GOP might not be crowning a champion chosen by these voters.