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The Democratic conference begins on Monday. But none of the main participants will be in Milwaukee, the host city. The hotels were closed and the bars of the most hungry American city of beer were strangely barren.
By Astead W. Herndon and Reid J. Epstein
[The consultant to the Democratic National Convention: speakers, start time, calendar and more.]
MILWAUKEE – In a year of canceled projects, with vacations, diplomas and sports seasons interrupted by the coronavirus crisis, the stretch of downtown Milwaukee where Democrats were to hold their nominations conference this week in silence and sparsely populated, another reminder of a lost summer.
Instead of thousands of Democrats preparing to meet at the newly built Fiserv Forum, this weekend there’s only one blocked street near Wisconsin’s smaller downtown, which will host the last parts of the Democratic National Convention that will still be held in that city. The hotels were closed, the restaurants were empty, and the bars in America’s most hungry beer-hungry city were strangely barren.
“What convention?” Said Michaela Jaggi, a 21-year-old girl who arrived in Central Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon.
She, in spite of everything, recalled: Joseph R. Biden Jr. intended to settle for the Democratic presidential nomination here this week. And the Democratic Party, ashamed not to invest enough in Wisconsin in the 2016 election, had to show its commitment to a major electoral school state.
That was before the virus crisis forced Democrats to turn their conference into a virtual event, in which none of Milwaukee’s top attendees will appear.
“I spent all those months in my apartment, ” said Mrs. Jaggi. “I think it’s great that they got here, but it’s guilty that they’re not.”
Some realities have not changed: the convention, which begins Monday and ends with a speech through Biden on Thursday night, marks the beginning of the formal general election between Biden and President Trump. Biden Vice President Senator Kamala Harris of California will have the largest to date in a speech Wednesday night. Who is who of Democratic Party politics will also deliver speeches in the country, as well as former President Barack Obama, former first-child Michelle Obama, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Hillary and Bill Clinton.
Aside from the five keynote addresses through Biden, his wife, Jill Biden, Harris and the Obamas, the average duration of the comments will be two minutes, the conference organizers said. Sanders will have an eight-minute time interval. He plans to speak live from Burlington, Vermont, but will pre-record an edition in case of technical difficulties. Sanders and Obama were the key speakers on opening night.
For Americans who watch at home or on their phones, the conference will offer an exclusive viewing delight: a mix of the April National Football League draft, city-to-city ping-pong, “Saturday Night Live at Home” product montages, and a political telethon asking audiences to interact and donate to Biden’s campaign.
But the virtual conference also reminds us that this is an election season like no other. The country, the economy and the electoral crusade were affected by the coronavirus pandemic, which killed some 170,000 Americans. It has also reshaped American life and, in the political world, voting priorities and access to the polls.
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