Democrats muster forces for Obama at national convention

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - When Nevada Assembly­man Kelvin Atkinson attended the Democratic National Convention four years ago, he said the party registered 20,000 volunteers in one night to help Barack Obama win the presidency and make history as the first African-American leader of the country.

This year's gathering, which kicks off today with a pre-convention party in uptown Charlotte, is designed to accomplish some of the same goals: to energize Obama supporters and register voters and volunteers before sending the troops home on a mission to ensure the president wins a second term.

This time, though, Obama's message has shifted from "hope and change" to hold on and have faith. He's making the case that, given more time, his policies will boost the middle class and an economy that has yet to recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression, which he inherited.

In Nevada that means a severe un­employment rate at 12 percent, the highest in the nation, and a state where many homeowners are drowning in debt with thousands forced into bankruptcy.

"I do know that people are frustrated," said Atkinson, one of 44 delegates to the convention from Nevada, a must-win battleground in 2012. "People do want to put food on their table and pay their mortgage. Has the president done enough? Certainly more can be done."

Atkinson said the president had to "adjust his expectations" after taking office in 2009 and discovering he would have to battle Republicans in Congress at every step. Still, Obama passed his signature health care reform and a $787 billion stimulus package that he argues kept the economy from crashing.

The president bailed out the auto industry and big banks to prevent a financial collapse, Atkinson said. And Obama's home foreclosure programs helped 5 million homeowners refinance their mortgages.

The Obama administration also has created 4.5 million private jobs in the past 29 months, according to his campaign, not quite enough to drop the national unemployment rate below 8 percent.

Mitt Romney, his challenger who Thursday accepted the GOP presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., argues Obama's economic policies have failed.

"I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed," Romney said Thursday night in accepting the nomination before a cheering crowd of up to 20,000 people.

"Today, the time has come to turn the page," he added, making the case he would do better because of his experience running Bain Capital, a private equity firm that launched Staples, among other companies.

THE CASE FOR RE-ELECTION

While the Republican convention was designed to introduce to an awakening electorate the former Massachusetts governor and his running mate Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin congressman, this week's televised Democratic gathering aims to put forward Obama's best case for four more years.

He'll get some help from Nevada with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid speaking on the opening Tuesday night of the three-day convention, the same evening first lady Michelle Obama addresses the Democrats.

In 2008, Reid's well-oiled Democratic Party machine in Nevada registered 100,000 voters to assure Obama's state victory by 12 percentage points over U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. This year, polls show Obama in a near-dead heat with Romney in what looks like a race either can win.

In Charlotte, Reid will praise Obama for the "tough and right decisions he has made as president," according to a Democratic official, and he'll criticize the "tea party takeover" of the GOP.

Reid also will continue to berate Romney for not releasing more than two years of his personal income tax returns. Reid has made headlines accusing Romney of not paying taxes for 10 years, an unsubstantiated charge the senator said he heard from a source, an unnamed former Bain investor.

Romney, who is worth more than $200 million, has denied the allegation he didn't pay Uncle Sam and adamantly refused to reveal his finances. In a recent interview, Romney suggested he didn't want public scrutiny of his private tithing to his Mormon church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints requires followers to give at least 10 percent of their annual earnings to the church.

One of Romney's strengths in Nevada is the support he enjoys from Mormons, who make up about 7 percent of the state population, largely lean Republican and turn out to vote in force.

Reid, too, is Mormon. In Charlotte, Reid has been invited Tuesday night by Utah Democrats to headline a fund­raising event with Democratic Mormons reaching out to voters. About 200 people are expected.

While Reid gets the most prominent Nevada role at the convention, U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., a delegate, will get a moment in the spotlight to announce the state's delegate vote on the floor for Obama.

Berkley is challenging U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., for his Senate seat. Heller didn't go to the Republican convention in Tampa, staying home to campaign instead in their tight race.

Berkley needs help from Obama to win the GOP Senate seat. She has been associating herself more with the president as the Nov. 6 election draws near with early voting starting in less than two months.

It doesn't appear Berkley will join House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California onstage during a presentation with about a half-dozen other female House members. Pelosi is a reviled figure among Republicans and some independents, whom Berkley needs to win the Senate election.

COURTING WOMEN VOTERS

About half the public speakers at the Democratic convention will be women who are working to help Obama expand his already healthy advantage over Romney with female voters.

Erin Bilbray-Kohn, the Democratic National Committeewoman from Nevada, said there are several events geared toward women around the convention, including those involving Planned Parenthood, Emily's List and NARAL Pro-Choice America, which all support abortion rights for women.

Romney has said he doesn't want the federal government to fund Planned Parent­hood. And he opposes abortion except in the cases of rape, incest and when a woman's life is at stake.

"I have young daughters, so this is a big issue," said Bilbray-Kohn, whose girls are 7 and 10. "I think if women can't control their bodies, they can't control anything else in their lives."

Romney also wants to repeal Obama's health care law, which provides women with birth control coverage without insurance co-payments or deductibles, Bilbray-Kohn noted.

A VISION FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS

Although women and minority issues will play a role in the Democratic convention, planners said the main theme will be Obama helping the middle class recover economically. He wants to end tax breaks for the rich and those making at least $250,000 a year, something Romney opposes.

"It will be a week dedicated to out­lining that vision of how and why we should build the economy from the middle class out," Ben LaBolt, Obama's campaign spokesman, said in an interview.

Former President Bill Clinton on Wednesday night will make the case for growing the economy from the middle class out instead of from the top down, LaBolt said.

Clinton, a popular figure, served two terms in the 1990s and balanced the federal budget - something that hasn't been in done in years.

"You saw what happened when we built the economy from the middle class down under Clinton - 23 million jobs were created," LaBolt said. Under former President George W. Bush, the United States saw "the slowest job creation in half a century and the collapse of the economy that devastated the middle class."

Obama's big moment will come Thursday night when he formally accepts the Democratic nomination in Bank of America Stadium with Vice President Joe Biden accepting the nomination as running mate as well. The public is invited to celebrate Obama's last election inside the stadium, which holds 73,000.

The campaign wanted to include the community to energize supporters, LaBolt said.

On Labor Day ahead of the convention, the public is invited to CarolinaFest in uptown Charlotte to "celebrate our democracy, the Carolinas, Virginia, and the South," according to the campaign.

Virginia and North Carolina happen to be two out of seven or eight battleground states - including Nevada - that will determine whether Obama or Romney win the White House.

The Democrats decided to hold the convention in Charlotte to boost Obama's chances of winning North Carolina again, four years after his upset victory there. Recent polls show Romney with an edge in the state, which usually goes to the Republicans in the presidential race.

Atkinson, the Nevada assemblyman, said the atmosphere will be a lot different at the Democratic convention than at the Republican meeting, which was threatened by Tropical Storm Isaac and disrupted by Ron Paul supporters. The Texas congressman's backers in the divided Nevada delegation and five other states tried to nominate Paul from the floor, but failed.

Obama expects a smooth ride and is hoping for sunny skies, although there's a chance of rain Thursday.

"Get out of Tampa and out of that thunder­storm and all that craziness," Atkinson said. "We won't have all that kind of stuff in North Carolina."

Contact reporter Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919. Follow her on Twitter @lmyerslvrj.