The city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, looks grim. It is there that should have been held with great pomp, from this Monday, August 17, the democratic national convention. This is where Joe Biden should have formally accepted the party's nomination to launch into the home stretch of his presidential campaign. The Covid-19 pandemic has turned everything upside down.
The conventions are organized every four years by the two major American parties, Democrat and Republican, to officially confirm their candidate for the White House and adopt its program. They usually attract thousands of people - delegates from 57 US states and territories, journalists from around the world, party activists - to their host cities, who reap considerable economic and publicity spinoffs.
Obama, Clinton and one minute for Ocasio-Cortez
But this year, in order to respect the physical distancing imposed by the coronavirus, the festivities have been canceled. A puzzle for the Party, which usually relies on the spectacle of the convention, with its raving crowds, ballooning and intense media coverage, to motivate voters.
From Milwaukee to New York, via the State of Delaware and Los Angeles, the production teams will therefore attempt to broadcast hundreds of video streams on the Internet, live or pre-recorded in various locations across the country. The television channels will broadcast the most significant hours.
Donald Trump's future opponent will stay in his home town of Delaware to address the country on Thursday evening. Before that, big names like Barack Obama, of whom Biden was the vice-president, and his wife Michelle, Bill and Hillary Clinton, the former primary candidate Bernie Sanders or the patroness of the Democrats in the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi , will share the top of the bill. Their speaking time has been reduced compared to usual, in order to better adapt to new trends in information consumption. The party promised, without revealing how, that the reactions of delegates, thousands of miles apart, would be shown live.
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Joe Biden's running mate Kamala Harris will also have the opportunity to speak on Wednesday night. The young star of the left of the party, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, will only have one minute to address the Democrats. An express intervention that is already cringe. On the entertainment side, artists Billie Eilish, The Chicks and John Legend have pre-recorded clips of their performances. Private citizens, such as a Mexican caregiver who immigrated to Florida or a former Trump voter in Pennsylvania, were invited to submit their testimonies via video. As for the vote of the delegates who nominate the candidate, a process usually long and chaotic, it will become the opportunity, in 30 minutes, to tour the United States.
Republicans too had to revise their plans
The pandemic, which has no party, has also forced Republicans to reconsider their plans. Their convention was originally scheduled for the following week in Charlotte, North Carolina. But the city has imposed strict sanitary guidelines and Donald Trump preferred to relocate part of the event to Jacksonville, Florida. But the surge in Covid-19 cases in that state prompted the US president to once again change his mind and call off the large rally. He has not yet decided on the place where he will deliver his speech: the White House has been mentioned ...
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Because of these hesitations, the Republican Party had less time than its rival to prepare the new format of its virtual convention. But he will have the advantage of observing possible mistakes made by Democrats this week and adjusting his program if necessary.