Politika Published August 15, 2024
Interview By Branko Mikasinovich
Terzic Politika 8 15 2024
Democrat National Convention’s Key Event: Kamala Speech
Interview By Branko Mikasinovich
https://www.politika.rs/
The Democratic National Convention will be held next week from Monday 19 August through to Thursday August 22 in Chicago Illinois. The convention hall will hold 5,000 delegates and alternates, 500 guests and 15,000 media reporters and other media. Politika interviewed Branko Tezic former US government and Republican party official.
Q. What are the important events scheduled for the Democratic Party National Convention starting next Monday?
Unlike the Republican Convention there will not be any voting for the Democrat Party’s Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates as this has already occurred. After the withdrawal of President Joseph Biden as a candidate the Democrat Party polled their delegates online and on August 7, 2024, the Democrat Party Chairman Jaime Harrison officially certified Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz as the Democratic Party’s nominees for President and Vice President. This was the most unusual nomination is recent US history as neither candidate Harris or Walz won any of the Democrat primaries held across the nation the past year.
Without any public vote by delegates the most important events at the convention will be Governor Walz’s speech Wednesday night and Vice President Kamala Harris' speech accepting their party’s nomination.
Q. What other speakers have been identified to appear at the Democrat convention?
The Democrats have announced that President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will speak on Monday night, former President Barack Obama on Tuesday night, and former President Bill Clinton on Wednesday night. In addition, it was announced that Jason Carter, the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter will speak on his grandfather’s behalf. Other speakers will be announced later and some speakers will appear as a surprise or be announced only a little before they appear to increase excitement and audience size.
Q. Will there be other speakers which have not yet been announced?
Certainly. The Democrat National Convention will be the dominant domestic story in the news next week. The Democrat Party is looking to appeal to as large an audience as possible and in particular to appeal to the independent voters who will decide the election. Thus, it would be expected that the other speakers will be selected to increase the audience size. Convention speakers will also include former and current elected Democrat office holders like Nancy Pelosi and California Governor Newson. In addition, the Democrats will also tap their extensive supporters among Hollywood, music and sports celebrities. Some will note that it was a highly publicized open letter by actor George Clooney which preceded Biden’s decision to withdraw as a candidate. These celebrity speakers will both draw large audiences and enthuse the Democrat base of supporters.
Q. What will be the measure of success of the Democrat convention next week?
The key measure of convention success will be an increase in the polls for the Harris-Walz candidacy. There should be some increase just due to the intense four days of media coverage especially as the major national newspapers and press have earlier indicated support for Harris against Donald Trump.
The size of the increase in support for Harris will be dependent on the quality and appeal of her acceptance speech Thursday night. The entire convention has been designed to elevate and publicize that key speech. The speech will be closely followed and analyzed. Any mistake will quickly translate into lower support among the undecided voters.
A week before that important convention speech Kamala Harris has a slight lead in the polls over Republican candidate former President Donald Trump. As of August 14, based on an average of presidential polls by the FiveThirtyEight data site, Harris leads by 2.6% with support from 46.2% compared to Trump at 43.6% with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at 5%. More significantly, Harris leads Trump in key “swing” states which many analysts feel will decide the election.
However, after Kamala Harris delivers her acceptance speech there will be 74 days left before the 5 November 2024 election. Given the experience of recent history in US presidential election with the unprecedented withdrawal of Joe Boden and the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, 74 days is plenty of time for domestic or international events to change the course of public opinion from one candidate to another.
The Honorable Branko Terzic is a former Commissioner on the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and State of Wisconsin Public Service Commission, in addition he served as Chairman of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe ( UNECE) Ad Hoc Group of Experts on Cleaner Electricity. He hold a BS Engineering and honorary Doctor of Sciences in Engineering (h.c.) both from the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee.
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