The Daily Background

Ben Smith jotted down this very interesting quick item:

Contrary to some early reporting, Hillary Clinton’s Tuesday night speech at the Democratic National Convention won’t be the event’s “keynote speech,” a defining convention role occupied in 2004 by Sen. Barack Obama.

The Convention Committee never actually put that out, but it’s been fairly widely reported (and, in a few cases, corrected).

Clinton “is one of four prime-time headline speakers. We will have a separate keynote speaker,” said Jenny Backus, a consultant to the convention. “Stay tuned.”

With the convention only two weeks away, it’s almost certain that the actual keynote speaker has already been decided– they’re just keeping it under wraps so they can make a big splash by announcing it later on.

So, who could it be? One theory that’s been floating around is that it’ll be a high profile Republican defector, somebody like Chuck Hagel or Colin Powell, in a turncoat move similar to what Zell Miller did for the GOP in 2004. Any guesses on who will fill the slot Obama did four years ago?

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog