Anxious party hopes to show strong Obama

By Adam Nagourney

updated 10:28 a.m. ET Aug. 25, 2008

DENVER - Democrats gathering here for their nominating convention are significantly more nervous about Senator Barack Obama’s prospects this fall than they were a month ago, and are urging him to use the next four days to address weaknesses in his candidacy and lingering party divisions from the primary fight.

Mr. Obama’s aides said they had learned from what they described as the mistake of the 2004 Democratic convention — when aides to Senator John Kerry’s campaign sought to forbid convention speakers from going after President Bush — and would use their time to draw contrasts with Senator John McCain, particularly on the economy and his opposition to abortion rights.

“The stakes of this election will be made very clear,” said David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s chief strategist. “We are going to define the choice.”

At the same time, acknowledging persistent unease with Mr. Obama among a significant segment of voters, his aides said they would use speeches and presentations during the next four days, including having Al Gore introduce Mr. Obama for his acceptance speech Thursday night, to offer a fuller biography and a more detailed plan of what he would do as president.

They said they were looking to 1992 as a model, when Bill Clinton successfully used his convention to address persistent questions about his personal life and what he would do as president.

Democrats arriving here said they remained confident that Mr. Obama would leave Denver at the end of the week in a strong position to defeat Mr. McCain. But many Democrats made it clear that a convention they had once anticipated would be a breezy celebration of Mr. Obama had turned into a more sober and consequential event.

New ‘sense of urgency’
This reflected a summer that they said demonstrated Mr. Obama’s vulnerabilities and Mr. McCain’s resilience, and the signs of lingering divisions between some supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mr. Obama.

“Back in June and July, I truly thought he was going to blow McCain out of the water and carry 30 or 40 states,” said Donald Fowler, a former national Democratic chairman who supported Mrs. Clinton in the primary. “What has happened is that Republicans — McCain specifically — have really twisted his great charisma, this electric personality, to discredit his ability, his experience, his capacity, his judgment. I fear they are about to do to him what they did to Gore.”

Discussing the days ahead, Mr. Fowler continued: “Obama has got to do some things that will shore up his ability to lead — not just to charm, but to lead. They’ve got to give credibility to his understanding of foreign policy, his ability to deal with tough people and tough questions, and his ability to be more explicit and convincing on his health care policies and energy policies.”

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Dennis McDonald, the Democratic chairman of Montana, a state that Mr. Obama is trying to win from Republicans, said this was a critical opening for Mr. Obama after a month in which polls suggested the race was tightening and events in Russia and Georgia put a new spotlight on foreign affairs, creating an opening that Mr. McCain seized.

“Normally I might say these conventions are not so important, but I don’t think that’s the case this year,” Mr. McDonald said. “There seems to be a sense of urgency. We have had a couple of weeks that were not so good.”

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