Elizabeth Warren will not deliver the keynote speech at this year’s Democratic National Convention, but instead will speak immediately before former President Bill Clinton on what party officials hope will be an energetic penultimate night.
Warren and Clinton will speak on Wednesday, Sept. 5, and form a one-two punch aimed at crystallizing the choice between President Obama and Republican Mitt Romney in the general election, the Obama campaign said.
The Massachusetts Senate candidate will contrast the president’s economic plan with Romney’s, and outline the impact it will have on middle class families across the country.
“At the president’s side, Elizabeth Warren helped level the playing field for all Americans and put in place safeguards to ensure that everyone, from Wall Street to Main Street, play by the same set of rules,†said Stephanie Cutter, a deputy Obama campaign manager.
The Globe reported earlier this month that Warren is under consideration for the high-profile keynote speech, traditionally delivered on Tuesday night.
Obama himself used the keynote speech he delivered at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston to vault into the national political consciousness.
The president has taken in recent months to emulating Warren’s pro-middle-class rhetoric, including adopting her theme that government has been a partner with entrepreneurs in building small businesses.
Yet Republicans have attacked the president’s recent “you didn’t build that†comment, prompting speculation that Warren might be bypassed for the keynote speech to avoid a rejuvenation of the issue in the Romney-Obama race.
The Obama campaign insisted that Warren was not being penalized for the president’s problems, noting that Obama himself continues to make the same argument and is running a television ad rebutting the Republican criticism.
Warren previewed conventuion-style language last month, when she introduced the president at a fund-raiser in Boston.
“Mitt Romney tells us, in his own words, he believes corporations are people. No, Mitt, corporations are NOT people. People have hearts. They have kids. They get jobs. They get sick. They love and they cry and they dance. They live and they die. Learn the difference,†she said.
After Warren finishes her remarks, Clinton is slated to deliver a speech that culminates with the former president formally nominating Obama for a second term.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will speak back-to-back on Sept. 6 at a football stadium in the convention city, Charlotte, N.C.
Warren is in one of the most hotly contested US Senate races in the country, challenging Republican incumbent Scott Brown. She has already outraised all other congressional candidates in the country.
The campaign would not immediately reveal the identity of the keynote speaker, who, like Warren, will speak in an arena being used for two nights before the convention is moved to the football stadium. The convention itself will last three nights instead of the usual four, amid Democratic fund-raising problems.
The party notes that the traditional first night, a Monday, will fall on Labor Day this year.
Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @globeglen.
