Warner's moment in the sun

Mark Warner's assignment to give the keynote Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention gives him third billing behind presidential nominee Barack Obama and his running mate Joe Biden.

The pumped-up partisans in Denver would be thrilled if Warner used his primetime speech to give Republicans a good thumping. But Warner is more comfortable delivering a treatise on the virtues of good government, economic investment and bipartisan cooperation. He's promised to leave his infamous PowerPoint presentations at home this week, but that's his only concession.

"If you're looking for the red meat, bashing speech, that's not me," he said in an interview. "It would seem phony and contradictory if I did that."

The Virginia Democrat may not make good political theater, but there's a reason why Obama tapped Warner for the keynote speech, which sets the tone for the convention.

"Mark Warner represents a new generation of leaders in the Democratic Party who are able to unite people across party lines and to really deliver results," said Kenneth Baer, a speechwriter and founder of the journal Democracy.

"His record is one of making a real difference in people's lives. What Obama is trying to convey is he too will make a difference in people's lives. The real twist to his change message is that the way to get there is with a different type of politics. "

Democrats who scored the keynote speech at previous conventions include Texas Gov. Anne Richards, New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and Indiana Senator Evan Bayh. Four years ago, the slot was handed to a certain U.S. Senate candidate from Illinois who was already generating a national buzz about his future ambitions.

The themes winding through Warner's speech will be familiar to Virginians who elected him governor in 2001. As a Senate candidate this year, he's woven his can-do pragmatism into a blueprint for progress on tough issues like economic recovery, energy policy and health care.

"We can't just pretend the Democratic Party has got all the answers," he said. "Unless you can forge bipartisan coalitions and rally the country together, you're not going to change our energy policy or make ourselves more competitive."

The energy crisis has become a favorite topic for Warner and will be an element of the speech.

"This should be where America shines," he said. "We have this problem, and it's going to be solved by innovation and technology. It's a classic example of where this country could put its best minds together and solve it. Washington turns it into either all alternative energy or all drilling, and it's not."

That's a message of compromise Obama needs to deliver to convention viewers in swing states like Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio and Michigan.

He has cast himself as a voice for change in hopes of attracting constituencies that haven't given Democrats a second thought in decades.

Warner's voice may not be as familiar, but he's got something Obama lacks: a tangible record of achievement to back his ideals. That puts Warner in the front ranks of the new Democrats, and Obama is wise to incorporate the Virginian's successes into his own vision for the future.

Christina Nuckols is an editorial writer for The Virginian-Pilot. Reach her at (804) 697-1562 or christina. nuckols@pilotonline.com.