DENVER—Opening night at the Democratic National Convention will reintroduce Barack Obama to voters, and no one knows him better than the evening’s featured speaker, his wife Michelle.
Ailing Democratic icon Edward Kennedy will also attend the convention Monday night. The Massachusetts Senator and a key Obama supporter traveled to Denver late Sunday. At present, there are no plans for Kennedy to speak, though that might change if Kennedy feels up to it. A video tribute by filmmaker Ken Burns is planned either way.
Kennedy, 76, has had surgery for a malignant brain tumor and undergone a lengthy course of chemotherapy and radiation.
Officially, the Monday convention program is themed “One Nation.”
The presentation, according to a Democratic news release, “will highlight Barack Obama’s life story, his commitment to change, and the voices of Americans calling for a new direction for this country.”
Among those voices will be former Iowa GOP Rep. Jim Leach, whose speech is designed to illustrate Obama’s appeal to Republicans and independents.
Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., women who took some political chances in endorsing Obama over primary rival Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., will try to bring Clinton loyalists around to Obama.
Obama’s sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and Michelle Obama’s brother, Craig Robinson, will also speak in a program that will detail to voters Obama’s upbringing by a single mother, his days as a community organizer, and his rise in politics.
With Obama coming under daily assault from Republicans as a celebrity with a thin resume to be president, Democrats hope the warm introduction will boost his appeal to independents and swing voters, and reinforce his image as the candidate of change.
The “one Nation” theme, said Obama campaign spokesman Josh Earnest, will “demonstrate the breadth of our party and the different kinds of people who make up our country and have found a home in the Democratic party because it represents their values.”
