Tonight launches the main portion of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, CO, essentially starting the general election campaign. This week is the Democrats turn to establish their platform for the next few months while painting their nominee is the best light as possible to make a good impression on the general public. These events have become carefully orchestrated to avoid potential floor battles or prime time speeches that create controversy for the party. With each race, a party faces a few issues leading into the Conventions, and this one is no different. Here is a quick look at some of the problems the Democratic Party and the Obama Campaign have to work around heading into tonight’s Convention.

Hillary Clinton – This is probably the largest of the “two-headed” issue for the Obama Campaign this week. Hillary Clinton was Obama’s main challenger during the Primary process, staying match-step with him with states won and delegates awarded for five months of the campaign. Locking up over 18 Million votes across the country, she carries a lot of weight in this year’s election, and due to that influence comes committed supporters. A significant proportion of her supporters are not happy, feeling that they had the election stolen from Hillary with the states of Florida and Michigan not being counted in the delegate totals, small states that Obama carried providing more delegates than some of the larger states that Hillary carried, and the sense that gender was sidelined by race. However, the largest swipe was the fact that Hillary was not considered for the Vice Presidential position by Obama, instead choosing Joe Biden for the job.

Hillary’s delegates – In addition to the protestors outside the Convention, Obama (and Hillary) have to worry about delegates on the Convention floor. In order to maintain stability and unity, “whip teams” are deployed among the delegates to ensure no protests are started to distract from the message of the person on the stage. Additionally, a roll call vote will be done during the Convention as an agreement with Party members to ensure that Hillary receives fair treatment, hoping to pacify the Hillary supporters. Some states require delegates to vote in the manner that they were selected, meaning that some are required to vote for Hillary even though she has released her delegates to Obama. Additionally, some delegates and superdelegates have stated publicly that they will vote for Hillary regardless. A high vote total for Hillary might show that there is not unity within the party yet, possibly weakening Obama’s message for the week.

Bill Clinton – The last two-term Democratic President has not been a strong supporter of Obama following the end of the Primary process. He has felt that he was targeted by the Obama camp, accused the camp of playing the race card against the Hillary campaign and himself, and ignored by the Obama camp leading into the Convention this week. When he was informed of his scheduled night and time to make a presentation at the Convention, he was given a topic (Securing America’s Future) to speak on. Unfortunately, this is not the topic that he wanted to speak on, referencing his strong record on the economy and Democratic Party unity and ideals. This has reinforced his reason for not using his political power to help secure a victory for Obama leading into November.

John Edwards – What can only be seen as a sigh of relief that the news didn’t break a week or two later, the Democratic Party is suffering from the shocking announcement that the 2004 Vice Presidential nominee and the third-place delegate winner of the 2008 primary committed adultery while on the campaign trail. What makes it worse is the fact that his wife is suffering from cancer. With rumors that he might have also fathered a child in this relationship, the Democratic Party had to scramble to marginalize Edwards in order to not lose too much of the ‘family values’ influence they have gained over the past two years following some key Republican scandals. Once courted by both Hillary and Obama, Edwards was the focus of the media for a month while the two leading candidates held key private meetings with the one-term Senator with win his support and the support of his followers. This also hurt the chance of the Party surrogates of using McCain’s first marriage against him without Edwards popping up in the discussion. Combine this with the strong core support McCain received following his public statement during the Saddleback forum just a few weeks ago, taking full blame for the failure of his first marriage, the “chip” has all but been removed from the table.

Joe Biden – While probably the safest pick Obama could make to fill in some key gaping holes in his campaign platform, Biden does not come without risks. For starters, Obama won a lot of key support during the Primaries on the platform that he had the foresight to oppose the land battle with Iraq in 2003. Biden, one of his primary challengers, not only voted for the war but also strongly defended the reason to do so back in 2002. Another point of contention with one of Obama’s key platform points is the need of change from politics as usual. Biden has been a Senator for 35 years, or almost the entire life of Obama. One of the more vocal and liberal Senators in DC, Biden is easily seen as a part of that establishment politics that Obama campaigned against. This contradiction on a key issue for Obama creates the impression on conflict with Obama’s message, and created doubt in the undecided voters.

Michelle Obama – The strongest and most vocal supporter of Obama is his wife, Michelle Obama. Unfortunately, her early strength in front of the camera created a lot of doubt, concern, and even fear in some of the general public. This initial impression was followed up with her highly criticized comment of being “proud of her country for the first time in her adult life,” implying that there was nothing about our country that she liked before hand. As a result, she was removed from the media attention while the campaign worked on reinventing her image, sending her on a circuit of the morning talk shows to reintroduce herself. Tonight will be her first major speech to the public as a whole to reintroduce her husband and their family, and this has the media covering her prime time speech with a microscope; picking apart every word she says and her body language.

Time – Obama’s message of Hope and Change filled the void in many people who felt that the country has lost its way, people who were down on their luck, and disenfranchised Democrats who still harbored ill will following the loss of the 2000 election. Tied with a fantastic ability to speak in front of a large crowd, Obama was able to form a strong base around him that was unbreakable. If the primaries started a few months later, the momentum of the message of Hope and Change would carry him through November. However, the shine of the message started to fade leading into the summer, highlighted by a major address in Germany. This caused some followers and many on the fence to step back and reexamine what Obama is bringing to the ballot, leading to a closer look at his record and his stances on the issues. While being able to explain away some of his position changes over the two year campaign (such as universal health care), changes in stances on wiretapping and off-shore drilling has caused soft supporters to break away as well as stoked heavy criticism by members on the far left.

This is just a sampling of what lies before Obama and the Democratic Party. If they can address most of these issues, Obama stands a good chance of not only putting the White House back in the hands of the Democrats, put also pair it with a Democratically-controlled Congress. With special appearances by the ailing Ted Kennedy, and an outdoor address by Obama on Thursday during prime time media coverage, Obama has a lot of positives in his favor in 2008. Tonight starts the general election, and with the polls currently tied between Obama and McCain, it is important that the negatives don’t overshadow the positives, possibly costing him and election that is his to lose.

Related articles:
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Chessnoid – “Democrats have buyer’s remorse on Obama”
The Washington Post – “Clinton Advisers Skipping Obama Speech”
NY Daily News – “John Edwards calling former staffers asking for forgiveness”
International Herald Tribune – “Clinton delegates back Obama, but poll shows concern”
God-o-Meter – “McCain’s Greatest Moral Failure Pays Off”
Politicususa – “Clinton and Obama Shoot Down Rumors of Convention Disunity”
California Conservative – “This is The Biden Bounce?”
Say Anything – “Hope For Change: Obama’s VP Has Served Longer In Washington Than Any Other VP Candidate Ever”
My Way News – “Dems seek peace in party as Obama convention opens”
The Politico – “Tensions boil between Obama-Clinton camps”
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