Wednesday evening at the Democratic convention in Denver features two speeches-of which the most important may be the ex-president rather then the vice-presidential nominee.
Yesterday Hillary Clinton did a dramatic call for unity in a speech Senator Jay Rockefeller said was a “homerun.” Her speech helped to put to rest the concerns that she or more importantly her supporters would sit out this election.
Tonight her husband , the only Democratic president re-elected in two generations, did the same call for unity. Although in private he was apparently more reluctant, in public he rallied the delegates who showed their support for him.
The question will be for the remaining 10 weeks whatever Clinton is asked to do more, and if asked, if he will do more. In 2000 he was willing to campaign for Al Gore, but was not asked. In 2008 one wonders what his role will be.
Perhaps the best measure for both Clinton will be the time they spend campaigning for the 2008 ticket-especially in those areas she did so well in such as West Virginia, southern Ohio, and western Pennsylvania.
In many ways Clinton’s speech overshadowed the Joe Biden’s speech-for despite all the talk unity is actually more important than the Vice-presidency. To win the election Obama will need more than 80% of Democratic voters.
Vice-presidents may strengthen a ticket as Gore did Clinton, or Dick Cheney did for George W. Bush, but they do not decide it. The best they can do is to follow the tenet of the Hippocratic oath taken by doctors- “First do no harm.”
The last time such a Vice-Presidential selection had a direct impact on an election was in 1960 when Lyndon Johnson delivered Texas electoral vote to John Kennedy. In terms of electoral votes, Biden’s home state of Delaware has only 3 votes and those were already in the Obama column.
Democrats in 2008 hope that Biden will shore up Obama’s foreign policy stance much like Dick Cheney from the small state of Wyoming was used to strengthen George W. Bush’s credentials.
Democrats also hope that Biden will provide “constituency relief” by appealing to those group of voters that Obama lost to Hillary in the primaries. A good campaigner with a strong personal story, Biden relates easily with blue collar and Catholic voters.
If Biden works well in the diners, Obama works best in the arenas-so well that he will follow John Kennedy’s action and make his acceptance speech at Invesco field, home of the Denver Broncos. But tickets even for that large an arena are hard to get since supposedly 90,000 Colorado citizens have requested a ticket.
It seems that those in the state who hosted the convention also want to be an eyewitness to history. The irony is that initially organizers were worried about attendance and made plans to bus in supporters.
The dilemma for the convention organizers- displeasure delegates or Colorado voters in a swing state. (Obama is statistically tied with McCain in this traditionally Republican state.
While many want to see history, many want to blog about it. The importance of blogs to 2008 campaign was demonstrated at the breakfast meeting of the West Virginia delegation. It was announced that West Virginia Blue was featured by CNN. When the station announced that blogs were very busy after Michelle Obama’s speech, but CNN only showed only that blog.
Blogs which have provided accessibility to information unimaginable five years ago. Certainly the DNC recognizes it having issued press credentials to more than 100 blog site here at the convention.
As there is an explosion of blogs in America has fueled the debate continues on whatever more is better. The debate is not new. When Henry David Thoreau learned that the invention of the telegraph allowed Americans to communicate from Maine to Texas, he asked “will we have anything to say?” The answer is that we hope we do.
- Dr. Rupp is a professor of Political Science/ History at West Virginia Wesleyan College
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