When was the last time a party failed to up last election's ante?
There is a longstanding custom that the parties do not interfere with each other's conventions. Hope n'Change!
Dems and Reps actually have had contracts with each other right down to excluding people out of the debates, but that was before the Republicans became a zombie party so weak that the Tea Party snatched its body and really became something else. the Democrats deserve what they get for excluding other parties in a devil's bargain with Republicans--the zombie party they're running against now is a monster of their own creation.