a rightly timed pause

Three days into the Republican National Convention, its differences from last week’s Democratic conclave have grown apparent: overwhelmingly white delegates, a strongly unified hall, erratic energy levels and speeches that focus heavily on iconography.

• According to polls of delegates conducted by The New York Times and CBS News, 93 percent of the Republican delegates are white, while 5 percent are Hispanic and 2 percent are black.  The Democratic delegate pool in Denver, according to the survey, was 65 percent white, 23 percent black and 11 percent Hispanic.

• The poll also found that men accounted for 68 percent of Republican delegates and about half the Democratic delegates.

• “The Republicans,” Mr. Warfield said, “trust delegates to represent the interests of all people more than Democrats do with their quotas.”

• According to a New York Times analysis, the Democratic speakers frequently used the following words last week: change, family, energy, jobs, health care, economy, mom/mother and Iraq. So far, words that Republicans have been using often include God, reform, character, family, taxes, leader, hope and hurricane.

• The Democrats also had a band that played a variety of pop anthems, whereas the Republican hall has been filled with a mix of country music and mellower harmonies. Delegates in both cities have occasionally broken into dancing, and rhythm’s challenge has appeared bipartisan.