Warner to focus on 'common sense'
Posted: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 2:30 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC/NJ's Matthew Berger
It’s perhaps an unenviable task. While it may be pegged as the night’s “keynote” address, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner's speech next Tuesday night will almost certainly be second fiddle to the highly anticipated words of Sen. Hillary Clinton.
And, he’s penciled in for the same speech that Obama used four years ago to vault him to the Democratic nomination.
For Warner, the keynote address comes with a bit of risk, an advisor to the Senate candidate said recently. He is decisively ahead of former Gov. James Gilmore in the polls, and a bad speech could cost him some ground, though likely not the election.
And he’ll be speaking to a partisan audience while running in Virginia as someone who can cross party lines.
“To have him stand in front of 20,000 activists on the partisan side when he’s the bipartisan guy is an issue,” said the advisor, speaking on condition of anonymity. “That’s just something we’ll finesse.”
Warner will likely tout his bipartisanship and bring a message that appeals both to the Democratic base as well as independents. It is what has made him immensely popular in a traditionally Republican state. And the post-partisan message worked for Obama four years ago.
Don’t expect Warner to throw red meat on the Republicans in Denver, or for him to utilize soaring poetry the way Obama did. Instead, the speech will likely focus on Warner’s business background as a bridge toward the new leadership and outside-the-Beltway mentality Obama is touting.
The speech will be written by Warner, not the Obama camp, aides said. He was informally approached about his interest in giving the speech a few weeks ago. The aides said the process of drafting the speech will be collaborative, but Obama officials “haven’t insisted they can veto what they write.”
Warner’s campaign team has been reading old speeches. The ones that stand out are Mario Cuomo’s “City on the Hill” theme from 1984 and Ann Richards’ “poor George” line from 1988.
“There are a couple that seeped into the public consciousness but just as many were quite forgotten,” the aide said.
Warner is better off the cuff than in front of a podium. But they feel the messages Warner is sending in Virginia fits with what Obama is hoping to express to the national audience.
“I think there’s an overlap in tone if not in substance between what Mark Warner has done and talked about and what Obama has done,” the advisor said. “We’ll use all the techniques of public speaking to capture and hold the audience. But the message will remain the common sense, smart government messaging that Mark Warner represents.”
But, the aide acknowledged, it is also a high-profile platform to make a mistake.
“It is somewhat intimidating to be asked to give the keynote when the last keynote was given by such a renowned orator,” the aide said. “It sets the bar pretty high.”
