The four-day convention was originally scheduled for Milwaukee but was forced online by the pandemic.
Milwaukee:
As Democrats open an unprecedented virtual convention on Monday, the party’s disparate factions project a united front behind Joe Biden, united by their shared determination to oust Donald Trump in the November election.
“It is absolutely imperative that Donald Trump be defeated,” Bernie Sanders, Biden’s former rival and keynote speaker on the opening night of the event, said on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday.
To add to the drama, the four-day convention – originally planned for the Midwestern city of Milwaukee but forced online by the COVID-19 pandemic – is taking place amid fury at Trump’s efforts to limit postal voting.
The president, insisting without evidence that postal voting promotes fraud, has threatened to block additional funding Democrats deem urgently necessary to allow the U.S. Postal Service to process millions of ballots.
In normal election years, nominating congresses are a noisy scene, attended by tens of thousands of party supporters and designed to inspire the party base and attract independents and the undecided.
Virtual atmosphere
Democrats chose Milwaukee for its location in the important swing state of Wisconsin. The city had spent millions in preparation.
But planners struggled to find virtual replacements for the usual roaring applause, circus atmosphere, and balloon drops.
Viewers are expected to be treated to live streams from several Democratic “watch parties,” including some broadcast live from drive-ins or with Biden’s erstwhile rivals like Senator Amy Klobuchar.
The experimental format will allow speakers to address unfiltered American voters – largely devoid of the usual overworked set design and screaming delegates.
Or, some fear, it could make a show more boring.
Two former presidents
Biden enters convention with significant but close polls on Trump and amid signs that her historic choice of Senator Kamala Harris as running mate – the first woman of color on a major party’s presidential ticket – is very popular among Democrats.
Harris, a former prosecutor and daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, has been promoted by Biden as the embodiment of the “American dream.” At 55, she brings a relatively young energy to support Biden, 77.
Joe Biden enters the convention with significant but increasingly tight polls on Trump, with Senator Kamala Harris as vice president.
Democrats hope speakers on four evenings will draw viewers to the prime-time niche the networks have pledged to broadcast.
Keynote speakers on Monday will be Sanders, a leader of the party’s progressive wing, and much-admired former first lady Michelle Obama. Tuesday, former President Bill Clinton and Jill Biden, the candidate’s wife.
Former President Barack Obama will speak on Wednesday and Harris will have his moment in the spotlight before the convention culminates Thursday when Biden formally accepts the Democratic nomination and delivers his acceptance speech – via a video link from his home state. origin, Delaware.
“If I am elected president, I will always choose to unite rather than divide. I will take responsibility instead of blaming others,” Biden tweeted on Sunday.
A “non-convention”
The convention was eclipsed by a coronavirus pandemic that has now killed 170,019 Americans.
Another event that threatens to steal the show is a last-minute campaign tour for Trump.
The outgoing president begins his cross-country tour on Monday in the battlefield states of Wisconsin and Minnesota and ends Thursday, the biggest moment in Biden’s political life, with a speech next to Scranton, Pa. – the blue collar town where Biden grew up. and that he always calls his spiritual home.
As the country’s economy sheds millions of jobs, Biden will be touting his $ 700 billion “Build Back Better” plan to invest in new technology and create some five million jobs, an aggressive challenge for Trump.
In a bid to assuage raw feelings during a difficult Democratic primary season, Progressives had a considerable voice in the drafting of the platform.
And in a nod to inclusiveness, former Ohio Governor John Kasich – a moderate Republican – got a word on Monday.
What remains a mystery is how Americans will react to the most unconventional political conventions.
“I think it will inspire people,” Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez told MSNBC on Sunday, highlighting “ordinary Americans” who will also take the virtual stage – including a frontline paramedic in Florida – and present in contrast to Trump’s divisive politics. .
“This is not just a convention for Democrats. It is a convention for all those who aspire to human decency, who seek competence,” added Perez.
Judging from the story, Democrats will get at least a slight bounce from the convention – and Republicans can expect the same after their virtual event, starting next Monday.
But whether the story is an accurate guide is not clear.
“We really don’t know if this kind of ‘no-convention’, or virtual convention plus speech, will have anything like the kind of short-term impacts we’ve seen in previous elections,” Charles Franklin said, a Professor and investigator from Marquette University.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
