According to the
Hotline On Call, Dean just announced DNC convention dates of Aug 25-28, just after the Beijing olympics. This was an excellent move by Dean.
Normally, the party in the White House gets to go last, in August, with the other party in July. In the past, it was beneficial to go early, so you could get access to the General Election funds as early as possible. See Dole's money problems in '96. But things are reversed now. Kerry did not use public funds for the primary, so he could spend unlimited funds until the convention. So there is now an money advantage to going later, assuming the 2008 Dem candidate will also not use public funds in the general.
The Republicans can't go the following week as it's Labor Day, unless they shorten their convention. And the networks won't be happy with the week after, as it will cut into their fall TV schedule. Excellent move.
Note: The Olympics in '08 start on 8/8. Most years, the Olympics start in mid-late July, although there are exceptions. 2004 Athens started on 8/13, so the Repubs had a very late August start to their convention. In 2000 and '88 the Olympics were in September, so the conventions had more leeway, and in '00 they were just 2 weeks apart. Most years, though, you have a convention, Olympics and the other convention pretty much back-to-back.