When Is a Convention Not Really a Convention? 

When John Kerry is involved of course:

The possibility that John Kerry may delay accepting the presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention here is compounding the upset of city officials and business owners, who already are unhappily looking ahead to traffic tie-ups expected during the four-day gathering.

"It's one thing to hold the neighborhood hostage because of a political convention," said Robert Torabgar, manager of Hilton's Tent City, a sporting goods store in the shadow of the FleetCenter, the convention site in the densely built downtown. "But to have the neighborhood closed just because of a political rally is a little harder to take."
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Although Menino's office had projected the convention would bring $154 million to the city, two recent studies concluded that the loss of worker productivity and tourism traffic, combined with the cancellation of other events, has turned the gathering into a net loss for Boston.

Some fear a delayed nomination could lead to a shorter convention. Kerry said such talk "is silly."

The reason that he is delaying the nomination is because as soon as he's nominated, he gets $75 million in public funds for his campaign. But because the Democratic convention is 5 weeks before the Republican convention, he has to be more frugal with that cash. Of course that begs the question... why doesn't he just ask his wife (Mrs. Heinz Kerry... who is worth a couple Billion) for a loan? Maybe because he still wants to make people believe that he is just a poor ol soul like the rest of us. He's not fooling anyone.