de SOUZA: Dems bring out the big guns, but will that make a difference?

Political party conventions are designed to shore up and energize their bases of support, which is why they bring out the big guns. And there are no bigger guns than the president and first lady, the vice president and a former president who is a longtime party favorite.

The Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia has been treated to a star-studded list of speakers, from first lady Michelle Obama and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday, to former President Bill Clinton on Tuesday, to President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

Tonight, Hillary Clinton will formally accept the Democratic nomination for president, becoming the first woman in the history of the country to carry a major party’s standard into the general election.

And while the thousands of convention-goers are reveling in the historic nature of the four-day event – eight years ago, Obama also made history by being the first black to be nominated and then to win the presidency – this question looms large: In a year of political turmoil, does star power matter?

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump certainly doesn’t think so. The GOP convention earlier this month in Cleveland was noteworthy for its failure to attract the true heavy hitters of the party.

There are two former Republican presidents alive today: George H.W. Bush and his son George W. Bush. They, along with son and brother Jeb, have long defined the Republican Party and are considered by many to be the soul of the conservative movement.

But neither former presidents nor the former governor of Florida attended the convention, which was hijacked – politically speaking – by Trump after he swept through the primaries and caucuses and secured the largest number of delegates. One of the casualties of the Trump juggernaut was Jeb Bush.

Also notable by his absence in the convention hall in Quicken Loans Arena was Ohio’s Republican governor, John Kasich, who not only refused to welcome his fellow Republicans to his state, but also snubbed Trump by not attending his acceptance of the party’s presidential nomination.

Kasich had made a bid for the nomination but was able to win only one state, Ohio.

Two other prominent Republicans were noticeably absent: former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee for president who failed to unseat Obama; and U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the GOP presidential nominee in 2008 who lost the election to Obama.

All of the no-shows share a common bond: their rejection of the campaign waged by Trump during the primary season. The New York City billionaire businessman showed a willingness to do and say anything to win, going so far as to insulting women, the disabled, minorities, Muslims, the GOP establishment and most of the other candidates in the race.

The last straw for many Republicans – and non-Republicans – was his refusal to call McCain a war hero. The senior senator from Arizona had spent years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, but Trump said a soldier who is captured isn’t a hero.

But despite the rejection, the first-time candidate for office not only received 14 million votes in the primary, but is conducting a campaign aimed at attracting anti-establishment Republicans, independents and Democrats, especially blue-collar workers (mostly white males) who blame their economic stagnation on global trade and illegal immigrants willing to work for lower wages.

Trump is successfully tapping into this economic, cultural and racial resentment, which is why he doesn’t care that the Republican National Convention was a bust – compared to previous ones.

On the Democratic side, the persistent anger on the part of supporters of Sen. Sanders, who sought the presidential nomination but was unable to overcome the power of the party establishment, is a major problem for Hillary Clinton.

Sanders garnered about 13 million votes in the primary, compared with about 15 million for the former U.S. secretary of state and U.S. senator from New York.

Sanders has used the convention in Philadelphia to demand that the party embrace most of the key provisions of his progressive agenda. Nonetheless, there is no guarantee that his endorsement of Clinton will persuade his supporters to beat the bushes for her, let alone vote for her.

To be sure, Hillary Clinton does benefit from having President Obama, Vice President Biden and former President Clinton – each with a strong base of support – in her camp.

But it isn’t a sure bet that such support will translate into votes in November.

The outcome of this year’s presidential election is as unpredictable as Donald Trump.