Hillary Clinton may have missed out on being the first female presidential nominee, but the tone of the Democratic National Convention will largely be set by women.
The Denver convention will open with an address by the presumptive nominee's wife, Michelle Obama. She is charged with presenting her husband Barack Obama as an all-American man, despite his upbringing abroad (Indonesia) and in one of the most remote states (Hawaii). The candidate's sister will also be a marquee speaker at the four-day nomination event.
Hillary Clinton will be another. Though the former First Lady was drummed out of the race by Obama, she pledged to support her erstwhile opponent in exchange for help in paying down millions of dollars in campaign loans she personally made to her organization. The Democrats arranged to have Clinton's name placed on the nomination roll for the convention, and as many as half of Congressional Democrats may cast their ballots in favor of the Senator from New York in an attempt to assuage the bitterness of pro-Clinton voters still angry over Obama's ascension in the party.
Speculation is rampant over the proposed timing of Obama's selection of a running mate––whether he'll announce his vice presidential selection this week or wait until the beginning of the convention in Denver.
