The American Conventions, Full of the Unconventional

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/30/world/americas/american-conventions-rnc-dnc.html

Version 0 of 1.

Declan Walsh, our bureau chief in Cairo, is reporting on the 2016 American presidential campaign for a global audience in much the same way he would cover an event overseas.

He spent a week in Cleveland, where Republicans nominated Donald J. Trump for president, and then traveled to Philadelphia for the Democratic convention, where Hillary Clinton became the first woman nominated by a major political party for the nation’s highest office.

Declan will continue to cover the race through November for “Abroad in America,” and you can follow him on Instagram, where he is sharing pictures of what he sees on the campaign trail.

The Democratic National Convention was punctuated by rousing speeches from two women: Michelle Obama, the first lady, who endorsed Mrs. Clinton on the convention’s opening night, and Mrs. Clinton, who accepted the nomination on Thursday.

Divisions among party members were evident throughout the convention, as supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders, Mrs. Clinton’s vanquished rival, made their voices heard inside and outside the convention hall.

The Republican convention was the first American political convention that Declan had attended, and it was a vivid contrast with the political events he remembered from growing up in Ireland, where his father was active in local politics.

The bombast, pageantry and surprises that “tripped one into another” provided plenty of opportunities for the 15,000 journalists on hand to document Mr. Trump’s acceptance of his party’s nomination to also consider the unprecedented nature of his campaign.

Defined primarily by Mr. Trump’s powerful personality, the convention also included strong opposition to his candidacy.