Warner to give keynote speech

Patrick to speak the same night

Mark Warner, former governor of Virginia, and Barack Obama campaigned together for the Democratic Party in June in Bristol, Va. Obama's campaign said Warner, an innovative businessman, fits the convention's Aug. 26 theme of economic opportunity. (Alex Brandon/ Associated Press)

Barack Obama chose Mark Warner, Virginia's US Senate candidate and former governor, to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic convention, underscoring Democrats' all-out effort to win the Southern state for the first time since 1964.

Announcing the pick yesterday, Obama's campaign called Warner an innovative businessman and bipartisan leader, fitting for the evening's theme of economic opportunity on Aug. 26.

The keynote address is a plum speaking spot that often is a springboard to national prominence. Obama, then a Senate candidate from Illinois, delivered it four years ago, jump-starting his rise in national politics. Warner ran an exploratory campaign for the 2008 presidential nomination, but has removed himself from consideration as Obama's running mate.

Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts will join Warner in speaking on the convention's second night, party officials announced yesterday. Patrick, one of Obama's closest surrogates, will be among those speaking about strengthening the middle class and will "share how Obama's policies have been directly shaped by the people he has met as he traveled the country."

Patrick campaigned for Obama in the key early voting states of Iowa and South Carolina, and they borrowed from each other's rhetorical flourishes. There has been speculation that Patrick, a former US assistant attorney general for civil rights, might join an Obama administration or even seek a Supreme Court appointment, but he has said he plans to seek reelection as governor.

And in an effort to reach out to antiabortion Democrats, Obama gave Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, long an opponent of abortion, a speaking role the same night. Casey's father, the late Pennsylvania governor Robert P. Casey, was snubbed for a marquee speaking spot at the 1992 convention because of his antiabortion views. Bob Casey endorsed Obama, who supports abortion rights.

Abortion opponents are also hailing the party's proposed platform plank on abortion because it more explicitly offers support for women who decide to have babies, with pledges to ensure access to adoptions, prenatal and postnatal care, and monetary help for expectant mothers.

The plank, however, also has somewhat stronger abortion rights language, saying that the party "strongly and unequivocally supports" a woman's right to choose, and "we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right." In the past the plank has said abortion should be safe, legal, and "rare."

On Tuesday night of the convention, Hillary Clinton is also scheduled to address delegates in the "headliner" primetime speech.

The roster of speakers that night also includes Governors Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Janet Napolitano of Arizona, both early supporters of Obama; Governors Ted Strickland of Ohio and Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania, both supporters of Clinton; and Governor Brian Schweitzer of Montana and Federico Peña, former US secretary of both energy and transportation, who will speak about energy and the economy.

The selection of Warner also raises questions about the prospects of Obama choosing current Virginia Governor Tim Kaine as his running mate. Because the vice presidential nominee is slated to address delegates the next night, observers doubt Obama would devote two major primetime national addresses to politicians from the same state.