<p>The first-ever virtual Democratic National Convention resumed on Tuesday, with the party showcasing its elder statesmen and up-and-coming political stars to press the case for electing Joe Biden as president in November.</p>.<p>Here are two takeaways from the second night of the convention:</p>.<p><strong>A CROWDED KEYNOTE</strong></p>.<p>The keynote speech that opened Tuesday's program featured 17 voices, a departure from a tradition that most famously anointed Barack Obama as a rising Democratic star at the 2004 convention.</p>.<p>That speech, in which Obama argued there was no true Red-Blue divide in the country, paved the way for the largely post-partisan presidential campaign he tried to run in 2008.</p>.<p>The previous two keynote speakers, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Julian Castro, then the mayor of San Antonio, also later ran for president.</p>.<p>This time around, the party said it wanted to accommodate as many young Democratic officeholders as possible given the time constraints of the virtual convention.</p>.<p>But the slot of “rising star” may have already been filled at this convention – either by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who also spoke on Tuesday, or Biden's vice presidential pick, Kamala Harris, who speaks on Wednesday.</p>.<p><strong>AN IRONIC MODEL</strong></p>.<p>Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump could not be more different people, but there was a certain irony to the former Democratic president speaking at the virtual convention.</p>.<p>Carter’s tenure as president from 1977 to 1981 is the model that Democrats hope now fits the Republican Trump, a single term marked by economic turmoil and a loss of U.S. standing in the world.</p>.<p>The two men faced sharply different crises in their fourth year in office - Carter with the Iran hostage drama and Trump with the coronavirus. Democrats hope that the end result in 2020 will be the same - voters picking someone new.</p>.<p>Carter was followed on Tuesday night by former President Bill Clinton, who won a second term despite a shaky first – in part by running against a much older nominee, Senator Bob Dole, then 73.</p>.<p>Clinton is now 74. Biden, whose nomination Clinton touted, is 77 and would be the oldest person to become U.S. president if he is elected on Nov. 3.</p>
<p>The first-ever virtual Democratic National Convention resumed on Tuesday, with the party showcasing its elder statesmen and up-and-coming political stars to press the case for electing Joe Biden as president in November.</p>.<p>Here are two takeaways from the second night of the convention:</p>.<p><strong>A CROWDED KEYNOTE</strong></p>.<p>The keynote speech that opened Tuesday's program featured 17 voices, a departure from a tradition that most famously anointed Barack Obama as a rising Democratic star at the 2004 convention.</p>.<p>That speech, in which Obama argued there was no true Red-Blue divide in the country, paved the way for the largely post-partisan presidential campaign he tried to run in 2008.</p>.<p>The previous two keynote speakers, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Julian Castro, then the mayor of San Antonio, also later ran for president.</p>.<p>This time around, the party said it wanted to accommodate as many young Democratic officeholders as possible given the time constraints of the virtual convention.</p>.<p>But the slot of “rising star” may have already been filled at this convention – either by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who also spoke on Tuesday, or Biden's vice presidential pick, Kamala Harris, who speaks on Wednesday.</p>.<p><strong>AN IRONIC MODEL</strong></p>.<p>Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump could not be more different people, but there was a certain irony to the former Democratic president speaking at the virtual convention.</p>.<p>Carter’s tenure as president from 1977 to 1981 is the model that Democrats hope now fits the Republican Trump, a single term marked by economic turmoil and a loss of U.S. standing in the world.</p>.<p>The two men faced sharply different crises in their fourth year in office - Carter with the Iran hostage drama and Trump with the coronavirus. Democrats hope that the end result in 2020 will be the same - voters picking someone new.</p>.<p>Carter was followed on Tuesday night by former President Bill Clinton, who won a second term despite a shaky first – in part by running against a much older nominee, Senator Bob Dole, then 73.</p>.<p>Clinton is now 74. Biden, whose nomination Clinton touted, is 77 and would be the oldest person to become U.S. president if he is elected on Nov. 3.</p>