City fades to background as virtual event kicks off
Production unites slate of heavy hitters to back Biden’s bid
Milwaukee’s moment was supposed to begin Monday.
Instead, the city received just a sliver of attention as the Democratic National Convention kicked off in a mostly virtual format because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Milwaukee leaders touted the city’s role in the event, but downtown was mostly sleepy. The Wisconsin Center appeared more like it was hosting a regional Shriners conference than a major political party’s nominating convention.
Undeterred, Democrats refashioned the event into a television and livestreaming production that brought together rank-and-file party members, liberals and disaffected Republicans. All said it was essential to replace President Donald Trump with Joe Biden.
“He knows what it takes to rescue an economy, beat back a pandemic and lead our country,” former first lady Michelle Obama said of Biden in the evening’s taped, keynote speech.
Also appearing at the convention was Biden’s rival to the left, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
“My friends, I say to you, and to everyone who supported other candidates in this primary and to those who may have voted for Donald Trump in the last election: The future of our democracy is at stake,” Sanders said. “The future of our economy is at stake. The future of our planet is at stake. We must come together, defeat Donald Trump and elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as our next president and vice president.”
Sanders lost Wisconsin’s April presidential primary to Biden and dropped out of the race the next day, before the state’s results were tallied. But Sanders has proven popular in the Badger State, winning the state’s 2016 primary before losing the nomination to Hillary Clinton.
Sanders preceded Obama, allowing the progressive leader the second most important speaking slot of the night.
Democrats chose Milwaukee as their convention site to highlight the importance of Wisconsin, a state that slipped away from them in 2016 and helped hand the presidency to Trump.
But they said they had no choice other than to turn their convention into a mostly online event because the pandemic, which has taken more than 170,000 American lives, continues to rage through the country.
Milwaukee’s streets are bare Monday for the Democratic National Convention. Santiago Edinger of Los Angeles stands on West Wells Street to protest U.S. military presence in South America.
‘An unconventional convention’
“It’s an unconventional convention,” Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez said just before the proceedings commenced.
Trump used the pullback of the convention to emphasize that he will continue to visit the state in person.
“We have to win the election. We can’t play games,” Trump said Monday during a swing through Oshkosh hours before the convention began.
His son Eric will visit Milwaukee on Tuesday, and Vice President Mike Pence will stop in Darien on Wednesday.
Democrats sought to fend off Trump’s message in part by turning to Republicans who have soured on Trump’s personality and policies.
“I’m proud of my Republican heritage. It’s the party of Lincoln, who reflected its founding principles of unity and a higher purpose. But what I have witnessed these past four years belies those principles,” said former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who ran for president in 2016 and stood at a literal fork in the road to deliver his message Monday.
Three other Republicans who have turned against Trump also weighed in: Christine Todd Whitman, the former New Jersey governor and head of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush; Meg Whitman, the former head of HewlettPackard who ran for governor of California in 2010; and former U.S. Rep. Susan Molinari of New York.
Molinari said she had long known Trump, a fellow New Yorker.
“So disappointing — and lately so disturbing,” she said of the president.
Gwen Moore speaks from Milwaukee
Organizers tried at times to put Wisconsin front and center. U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore of Milwaukee spoke Monday and Gov. Tony Evers and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin will get moments in the spotlight in the coming days.
“Oh, I sure wish you all were here in the city of Milwaukee,” Moore said from a room in the Wisconsin Center. “This is a city where blood was shed for labor rights, where a fugitive slave was freed from prison, where women’s right to vote was first ratified.”
Ahead of the convention, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said he was proud Milwaukee was chosen to host a major party convention for the first time in its history — and disappointed it didn’t bring the thousands of people who would have come if it had been held in person.
“We know that fate has dealt us a different hand,” he said. “And a big part of that, unfortunately, has been the nonleadership of President Trump.”
Milwaukee’s role in the convention often was not evident to viewers, but a control room in the Wisconsin Center served as the technical backbone of the convention. A crew there assembled the convention broadcast using hundreds of video feeds and live shots.
The loss of the convention is an economic hit to Milwaukee, and it takes away an opportunity for Wisconsin Democrats to celebrate.
“We were looking forward to pandemonium and all we got was a pandemic, unfortunately,” Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes told Democrats in an online event ahead of the convention.
As the in-person convention evaporated, so too did protests that once were expected to be sizable.
An hour before the convention started, about a dozen demonstrators marched toward the Wisconsin Center, chanting, “Hey hey, ho ho. Corporate Joe has got to go.” They were trailed — and outnumbered — by legal observers who were present to protect protesters’ rights.
Despite the convention setbacks, Democrats have been buoyed by good polling numbers lately.
Biden led Trump nationally 53% to 41% in a survey released Monday by the Washington Post and ABC News. Wisconsin voters preferred Biden to Trump 49% to 44% in a Marquette University Law School poll released last week.
The Republicans next week will hold their national convention, which also has been scaled back.
Biden appears briefly
Biden made a convention appearance Monday when he moderated a brief forum on racial justice.
“Most cops are good, but the fact is the bad ones have to be identified and prosecuted and he said.
Also speaking Monday was U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, who gave Biden a crucial endorsement just before his state’s primary.
Biden, who fared poorly in Iowa’s caucuses and New Hampshire’s primary, won South Carolina, sparking a rally that led him to win his party’s nomination.
“I have said before and wish to reiterate tonight: we know Joe, but more importantly, Joe knows us,” Clyburn said.
The convention comes a week after Biden named Harris, a U.S. senator from California who ran for president this year, as his running mate. Harris will speak Wednesday and Biden on Thursday, the final night of the convention. Both will address the nation from Biden’s home state of Delaware.
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota told viewers the party needs to unite behind Biden so they can accomplish their goals.
“Unity isn’t about settling,” she said. “It’s about striving for something more. It’s not the end — it’s the means.”
Klobuchar ran for president this year and endorsed Biden after she dropped out. She was among those he considered as his vice presidential pick, but she withdrew from consideration in June.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was also considered as a running mate, said during her convention speech that the country has learned much from the battle against the pandemic.
“We’ve learned who is essential,” she said. “Not just the wealthiest among us. Not a president who fights his fellow Americans rather than fight the virus that’s killing us and our economy. It’s the people who put their own health at risk to care for the rest of us.”
Molly Beck and Alison Dirr of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.