A month ago I, and pretty much everyone outside of Trump and his circle, were pretty sure there was no way either party could hold on in-person convention. Now, I’m not so sure. I mean they could put 100 people in a walled off TV studio on the floor of the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, and Trump could give his speech, and the networks would have to cover it as the official convention speech – even if all the other convention activities were virtual.  And if it’s clear the GOP will hold some sort of in-person convention, will Biden feel he has to do the same?

Here’s a summary of how we got here over the last few weeks:

• On May 12, the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee passed the changes necessary to support a virtual convention. Nothing from the GOP, yet, but they could make similar changes anytime they wanted to.
• Yahoo News floated the following options:

The roll-call vote could potentially take place with one representative from each state entering the hall to announce their vote, one DNC member told Yahoo News. Another DNC member floated the idea of having each state’s representative join the broadcast by teleconference from a symbolic location in their state, such as a capitol building.

Or there could be socially distanced gatherings of delegates in each state who call in and record their votes by videoconference.

• Democratic officials in Charlotte may have some say whether the GOP gets to meet. Also from Politico and the Times.
• The CEO of the convention is also working from home
• The DNC Host Committee laid off 1/2 its staff in mid-April – CNN
• GOP options for Charlotte – NBC News
• DNC Chair Tom Perez says he expects to be in Milwaukee – NBC News
• The NY Times asks if the era of conventions is just over
• And Pelosi suggests moving it outdoors:

“When I was a girl, I went with my parents to the convention in Los Angeles, and at that convention, John F. Kennedy was nominated. And he gave his acceptance speech in the Coliseum, this enormous … stadium. So when Obama did that in Denver, everybody said, ‘Oh, it’s the first time,’ [but] that wasn’t the first time: John F Kennedy was the first time,” she said during an interview with C-SPAN on Friday evening.

Uh, we didn’t say it was the first time.