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Democrats gear up for Charlotte convention
Just days after the Republican convention in Tampa, Democrats are gearing up to hold theirs in Charlotte, North Carolina. It will be a three-day affair, beginning Tuesday, with President Barack Obama giving his formal acceptance speech on Thursday night.
Obama, having assailed Republican rival Mitt Romney for merely attacking his handling of the economy without offering “a single new idea” of his own, proposes to outline “a better path forward” to grow the economy, create more jobs and strengthen the middle class.
As conventions go, the Democratic meet will follow the set pattern, appearing to mimic the GOP show. Like Ann Romney, the star speaker of the first night will be First Lady Michelle Obama, with Vice President Joe Biden and Obama taking their turns on the following two nights. The Democratic Party has lined up a host of party bigwigs for prime-time speaking slots, including former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
Back in 2008, when Obama was nominated the first time for the White House race, he gave his acceptance speech in the massive 76,000-seat Invesco Field football stadium in Denver, Colorado. The venue had been turned into a grand arena for the occasion, complete with Greek columns.
Obama proposes to repeat the feat in Charlotte on Thursday, at least as far as the size of the ground goes – the 74,000-seat Bank of America Stadium. This contrasts with Republican Mitt Romney’s delivery of the acceptance speech at the indoor setting of Tampa Bay Times Forum, with a capacity of just about 20,000.
Just as the Republicans chose Tampa with an eye on capturing the battleground State of Florida in November, the Democrats handpicked Charlotte in their bid to retain the traditionally-Republican North Carolina, which Obama had wrested in 2008. For the preceding 32 years, Republican presidential candidates had held sway over the State.
This time round, it may be difficult for Obama to retain North Carolina, where unemployment is running at 9.6 per cent as against the national average of 8.3 per cent. The State’s Democratic Governor Bev Perdue is not seeking re-election reportedly because of her low approval rating. “They (the Democrats) are in a lot of trouble in North Carolina,” claimed the State’s GOP spokesman Rob Lockwood.
But then pollsters say it’s the same challenge for the Republicans in Florida. Despite holding the party convention in Tampa, Romney trails Obama by 1 per cent in the “Real Clear Politics” average at this point, while in North Carolina, it is Obama trailing Romney by about the same margin.
Just days after the Republican convention in Tampa, Democrats are gearing up to hold theirs in Charlotte, North Carolina. It will be a three-day affair, beginning Tuesday, with President Barack Obama giving his formal acceptance speech on Thursday night.
Obama, having assailed Republican rival Mitt Romney for merely attacking his handling of the economy without offering “a single new idea” of his own, proposes to outline “a better path forward” to grow the economy, create more jobs and strengthen the middle class.
As conventions go, the Democratic meet will follow the set pattern, appearing to mimic the GOP show. Like Ann Romney, the star speaker of the first night will be First Lady Michelle Obama, with Vice President Joe Biden and Obama taking their turns on the following two nights. The Democratic Party has lined up a host of party bigwigs for prime-time speaking slots, including former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
Back in 2008, when Obama was nominated the first time for the White House race, he gave his acceptance speech in the massive 76,000-seat Invesco Field football stadium in Denver, Colorado. The venue had been turned into a grand arena for the occasion, complete with Greek columns.
Obama proposes to repeat the feat in Charlotte on Thursday, at least as far as the size of the ground goes – the 74,000-seat Bank of America Stadium. This contrasts with Republican Mitt Romney’s delivery of the acceptance speech at the indoor setting of Tampa Bay Times Forum, with a capacity of just about 20,000.
Just as the Republicans chose Tampa with an eye on capturing the battleground State of Florida in November, the Democrats handpicked Charlotte in their bid to retain the traditionally-Republican North Carolina, which Obama had wrested in 2008. For the preceding 32 years, Republican presidential candidates had held sway over the State.
This time round, it may be difficult for Obama to retain North Carolina, where unemployment is running at 9.6 per cent as against the national average of 8.3 per cent. The State’s Democratic Governor Bev Perdue is not seeking re-election reportedly because of her low approval rating. “They (the Democrats) are in a lot of trouble in North Carolina,” claimed the State’s GOP spokesman Rob Lockwood.
But then pollsters say it’s the same challenge for the Republicans in Florida. Despite holding the party convention in Tampa, Romney trails Obama by 1 per cent in the “Real Clear Politics” average at this point, while in North Carolina, it is Obama trailing Romney by about the same margin.
