Democrats unite for Joe

MILWAUKEE: As Democrats on Monday opened an unprecedented virtual convention, the party’s disparate factions are projecting a united front behind Joe Biden, brought together by a common determination to oust Donald Trump in November’s election.

“It is absolutely imperative Donald Trump be defeated,” Bernie Sanders, a former Biden rival and a keynote speaker on the event’s opening night, said.

The four-day convention — originally planned for the midwest city of Milwaukee but forced online by COVID-19 — takes place amid a furore over Mr Trump’s efforts to limit mail-in voting.

The President, insisting without proof that mail-in voting fosters fraud, has threatened to block extra funding Democrats say is urgently needed to allow the US Postal Service to process millions of ballots. In normal election years, nominating conventions are a raucous scene.

Tens of thousands of party faithful attend the festive events designed to shine a national spotlight on the candidate, inspire the party’s base and lure independents and the undecided.

Democrats had picked Milwaukee for the convention location in the important swing state of Wisconsin. The city had spent millions of dollars in preparation.

But planners have struggled to find virtual replacements for the usual roaring applause, circus-like atmosphere and balloon drops.

Viewers are expected to be treated to live feeds from several Democratic “watch parties”, some even live-streamed from drive-in theatres or featuring erstwhile Biden rivals such as Amy Klobuchar.

The format will allow speakers to address voters unfiltered — largely without the usual overwrought stagecraft and screaming delegates.

Mr Biden enters the convention with significant but tightening poll leads over Mr Trump and amid signs that his history-making pick of Kamala Harris as his running mate — the first woman of colour on a major party presidential ticket — is widely popular among Democrats.

Senator Harris, a former prosecutor and the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, has been promoted by Mr Biden as the “American Dream” incarnate.

At 55, she brings relatively youthful energy to bolster 77year-old Mr Biden. “If I’m elected president, I will always choose to unite rather than divide. I’ll take responsibility instead of blaming others,” he tweeted.

With the US economy shedding millions of jobs, he will tout his $US700bn “Build Back Better” plan to invest in new technologies and create 5 million jobs.

What remains a mystery is how Americans will react to the most unconventional of political conventions.