Viewer interest in this summer's Republican and Democratic national conventions? Still unclear.
With the parties' quadrennial presidential nominating gatherings fast approaching, organizers on both sides are bedeviled by a similar challenge: how to increase TV viewer interest in the multiday affairs, which threaten to be largely predictable spectacles nearly devoid of suspense.
The conventions were a ratings hit in 2008, when Democrat Barack Obama became the first black presidential nominee for a major party and Sarah Palin made her national debut as Republican John McCain's running mate.
This year's gatherings promise fewer gee-whiz moments, with both party's nominees long settled and polls showing public confidence in politics and government at a record low.
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