Democrats start virtual presidential nomination event amid pandemic

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to grip the nation, party conventions will no longer be events that draw tens of thousands of people. The Democratic convention is going almost entirely virtual, and the Republican event to endorse Trump's re-election bid next week will be joined by a limited number of in-person attendees.

In U.S. presidential races, the incumbent is traditionally seen as having an advantage over the challenger. But Trump, 74, has trailed Biden, 77, in national polls amid the country's worst public health crisis in decades and a pandemic-induced recession.

The main highlight of the Democratic National Convention will be when Biden delivers a nomination acceptance speech on Thursday night from his home state of Delaware, in which he will likely stress the importance of leadership and unity to pull the country out of the health and economic crisis, according to a campaign official.

His running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, 55, will make a speech on Wednesday night. Expectations are high among Democratic members that she will help rev up the campaign as the first black woman and first Asian American to be on a major U.S. party's presidential ticket.

Other high-profile speakers, including former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee defeated by Trump, will also be featured during the convention.

Events are being live-streamed through the official website and various social media channels as Biden and other speakers refrain from traveling to attend the convention on-site in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Apparently to divert attention from the Democratic event, Trump visited Wisconsin on Monday to rally support from the Midwest battleground state. He will head to the western swing state of Arizona on Tuesday, seeking to showcase himself as an active leader in contrast to Biden who has largely relied on virtual campaigning from his home due to the virus outbreak.

The Republican Party plans to formally nominate Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, 61, for a second four-year term at the convention slated to begin next Monday in Charlotte in the southern state of North Carolina.

Trump was initially eager to hold a full-scale party convention even as the pandemic was intensifying, but gave up the idea in July. He is expected to deliver his nomination speech on Aug. 27 from the White House.

In the absence of big crowds cheering and waving signs, it is unclear whether speeches can be delivered with the same level of enthusiasm as what people are used to, said Eric Heberlig, a political science professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

«If you're not interested in politics enough to be sure if you're going to turn out to vote, you're probably not going to sit through much of a convention to watch it,» he said, adding that the question will be whether «the quality of the message» can be maintained through such virtual conventions.

Concerns over cybersecurity also linger as election campaigning has gone largely virtual.

«If there is some type of technological interference, that's going to play a large role in how people evaluate these conventions,» the professor said.

Each party's presidential nominee has been essentially decided by the outcomes of state-level primaries and caucuses that took place earlier this year. Conventions will make the choices official through voting by delegates.