Remote speeches, videos and songs: Democrats embark on virtual convention for Biden without crowds

Trump and his administration could also make surprise announcements to draw the spotlight.“The Democrats are going to have to be pretty agile here,” Hult said.Conventions can serve to heal wounds between primary rivals and showcase party unity. But the idea is to speak to those voters directly.”Despite the long primary season – and Biden’s decades-long resume in Washington – voters are still eager to learn how he compares with Trump.Many Trump voters who could turn against the president didn’t follow the Democratic primaries, according to Sarah Longwell, a GOP strategist and Trump critic who has been conducting focus groups of such women.“When you talk to them, one of the things that’s sort of shocking, even though Joe Biden was the vice president for eight years, is just how undefined he is among this particular audience of people,” Longwell said. And Trump criticized Harris on a variety of subjects including policing.“She folded up very badly in the primaries,” Trump told Wisconsin supporters Wednesday during a telephone rally.Joel Benenson, a pollster who was a chief strategist for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, said generating excitement at the convention could be difficult without large crowds. Stephanie Cutter, the convention program executive, said the event “will look and feel very different than past conventions.”Exclusive:Joe Biden and Democrats unveil details of DNC convention including nightly themes, ways to watch“It will truly be a convention across America, and these incredible artists will help us tell the story of where we are as a country today under Donald Trump’s failed leadership, and the promise of what we can and should be with Joe Biden as president,” Cutter said.Convention organizers spent two months collecting nearly 1,000 videos from delegates and other people that will play during the four nights.To personalize the party’s message, the convention will feature voters talking about their priorities. But as with this year, they hold little suspense because the last time a nominee wasn’t selected on the first ballot was Democrat Adlai Stevenson in 1952.“It’s like watching a Harlem Globetrotters game and wondering who’s going to win,” said Robert Dion, associate professor of political science at the University of Evansville.But conventions used to be rewards to party activists, offering a trip and a spectacle and an opportunity to meet big names in the party, said Baker of Rutgers.