Democrats' Convention Is Practice For The Online 2020

Video segments and big speeches, many of them prerecorded from remote locations, are airing in primetime, but without the applause of a large live audience of delegates who under normal circumstances would return to their communities amped to get out the vote for the general election.All of this makes it tough to measure what success would look like.“I think that 99% of the people only experience the convention on television,” Nancy Patton Mills, chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, told BuzzFeed News last week in a telephone interview. State parties in some cases are throwing open the virtual doors to anyone who provides an email address, phone number, and other data helpful for organizing.“It’s like a broader democratization of the DNC in a way,” said Annie Levene, a partner at Rising Tide Interactive, a digital marketing agency that works with Democratic campaigns.Biden, addressing Florida delegates during a virtual event Tuesday afternoon, said they were part of history.“You’re part of the most creative, inclusive convention we’ve ever had,” Biden told them, according to a pool report. (A New York magazine piece this week found purported canvassing activities in battleground Pennsylvania to be nonexistent.)A screenshot from the Florida Women for Biden Virtual Phone Bank Kick-Off on August 17."Joe Biden and our party have put the health and safety of the American people first,” said Biden national press secretary Jamal Brown, who added that the campaign “followed the science, listened to doctors and public health experts, and ensured voters have the resources they need to safely cast their ballot” for Biden and running mate Kamala Harris.Back in March, when Biden held his last full-scale rally, no one knew how long traditional campaign activities would remain unsafe. Your phone number, your address — all of that stuff is really important, especially if we’re looking at vote-by-mail.”State party chairs who spoke with BuzzFeed News see other benefits in the approach.“This virtual program is the great equalizer,” said Felecia Rotellini, the Democratic chair in Arizona, a Trump state in 2016 that Biden is aggressively trying to flip.