Barack Obama will stand before a sea of 75 000 fans to accept the Democratic White House nomination in a spectacular rock-concert style stadium finale to his party’s convention next month.
The charismatic Illinois senator will attempt to upstage Republican rival John McCain with a stunning open-air photo-op on August 28, at Invesco Field, the home of the Denver Broncos American football franchise.
Party officials switched the prime-time appearance to the outdoor stadium from the nearby Pepsi Centre indoor sports arena holding the first three days of the convention to quadruple the potential crowd.
The address by Obama, who hopes to be America’s first black president, will be lent added poignancy by dint of its scheduling on the 45th anniversary of civil rights icon Martin Luther King’s ”I have a dream” speech.
Republicans, who have been trying to develop a narrative that Obama can be arrogant and may be taking the election for granted, however scoffed that the Democrat was mistaking attractive visuals for substance.
The first-term senator, who shot to prominence with an electrifying speech at the Democratic convention in 2004, attracted massive crowds to events during his victorious primary campaign against Hillary Clinton.
On one occasion, 75 000 Obama supporters mobbed one of his events in the western state of Oregon.
”The Democratic Party is nominating a true change candidate this August, and it is only fitting that we make some big changes in how we put on the Convention,” said Democratic national committee chairperson Howard Dean.
”Barack Obama’s campaign for change has inspired millions of Americans and brought people into the political process who might never have been involved,” said Democratic convention co-chair Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius.
”This change in the convention programme will allow thousands of first-time participants a chance to take part.
”I can’t think of a better convention finale for our nominee who has made reaching out to voters a hallmark of his campaign.”
Obama’s speech, to be carried live on United States television networks, will be his best chance to sell his vision of hope and change to Americans, especially to those independents and undecided Democrats who are still wavering.
His decision recalls the outdoor rally used by 1960 Democratic nominee John F Kennedy, who, like Obama, was seen by followers as a figure of generational change, and delivered his acceptance speech in an open-air stadium in Los Angeles.
Obama’s speech will leave McCain, who even his campaign admits does not share the lyricism of his rival Democrat, with a huge task to make his own splash at his convention the following week.
Even the announcement of the speech venue on Monday was a swipe at McCain, and an apparent attempt to steal headlines in Colorado, a key swing-state, where the Republican was kicking off a major economic-themed tour this week.
On the day he clinched the Democratic nomination over Clinton last month, Obama took another jab at McCain, giving a speech in the Minneapolis-St Paul arena, which will host the Republican convention between September 1 and 4.
Republicans were dismissive of Obama’s eye-catching announcement.
”Not surprisingly, Senator Obama and his fellow Democrats are more focused on stagecraft and theatrics than providing real solutions to the challenges facing our nation,” said Matt Burns, director of communications for the 2008 Republican National Convention.
”A change of venue for a speech isn’t the kind of change the American people deserve or expect.” — AFP
