'It's going to be a Hollywood production spliced together': Get ready for Milwaukee's unconventional 2020 DNC

Gwen Moore is getting ready for her close-up.

And it may be brief and to the point, just like everything else in the scaled-back, mostly virtual Democratic National Convention that takes place Monday through Thursday in Milwaukee and across the nation.

The Democratic congresswoman will be among the very few speakers inside the Wisconsin Center.

"Omigod, I have like a whole minute," Moore said in good humor about her Monday speaking role. "I think they’re trying to cut my speech down! I have had a lot of training (keeping comments short) as a member of Congress. I’m welcoming people. That’s my job. Open things up.”

Moore and others helped Milwaukee land the convention.

But the coronavirus pandemic crushed Milwaukee's hopes for a large-scale event, leaving it as the "anchor" spot for a convention where delegates are sitting at home and the national ticket, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, will accept their nominations in Wilmington, Delaware.

Even Tuesday's roll call of states, which will confirm Biden's nomination, has been adapted. It will contain both live and taped elements as votes of 57 delegations from states and territories are tabulated.

So, what's left? And will millions care to watch on television or online?

Moore's retort: Why not watch?

"It's going to be a Hollywood production spliced together," she said. "I think that they might be curious. This is the most important election in people’s lifetimes. I think people are really getting the sense this is 1789 again. … I just think there’s collective ‘we get it.’ … We’re going to try to capture that sentiment during our convention and really  convince people they need to take their destiny in their own hands."

Rewriting the script

Work on staging the convention has gone on for more than a year. And every plan that was in place was tossed out as the COVID-19 health crisis forced change after change, from pushing the event back a month, to telling delegates not to travel, to abandoning plans to use Fiserv Forum to shrinking the physical event down to the Wisconsin Center.

The main convention program runs from 8 to 10 p.m. Central time over four nights.

"It's going to be different than ever before," said Addisu Demissie, a Biden campaign adviser who is helping run convention preparations.

He said the number one priority for organizers is public health, keeping people safe amid the pandemic.

"The theme of the convention is uniting America, which gives away the story," he said. "We're trying to bring this country together after four years of a president trying to divide us."

There's likely to be ample criticism of President Donald Trump and his administration. But the convention also presents a chance to introduce the Biden-Harris ticket to the wider public that may now just be tuning into politics as the fall election approaches.

"The challenges are real in producing a show that does the work it needs to do from a political perspective, but also highlights our host community, our anchor community and also brings in voices and people from across the country," he said. "That's what we're trying to do. We're trying to do all of that in eight hours."

Demissie said "there will be a mix of live and pretaped content, a mix of speeches and more interactive segments, video content that tells the story of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, tells the story of the Democratic Party."

The convention will also use videos submitted by people from across the country, he said. More than 1,000 were collected in recent weeks.

"The core element of a traditional convention is the speech to the arena," he said. "But that in many ways is the one element we don't have at our disposal this time. Nothing that we wanted, but because of the virus that is ravaging the country ..."

"We will have people speaking from across the country," he added. "Some in their house, some from iconic locations, some from places that have particular import to the folks in that state. But remarks are not the only piece of content we'll be putting out there."

Musical acts will participate, including John Legend, Common, The Chicks and Billie Eilish. There is also a filmed tribute to celebrate the life and legacy of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis.

And yes, there will be a roll call, unlike any other, both live and taped.

Demissie said: "We can tell a story about America and sort of the diversity of our country, the beauty of it, the physical beauty and the story of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris over the course of 57 individual segments."

Holding an audience

So, will this event be compelling enough to keep an audience and drive home a message?

Mark Lukasiewicz, the former senior vice president of NBC News Specials, said this year's conventions may not be able to mount the elaborate productions of the past, but current events may draw audiences.

"I think we're living in an era where people's interest in politics is as high as it's ever been because it matters more," said Lukasiewicz, dean of the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication at Hofstra Univesity. "We're in the middle of a dramatic economic downturn in the middle of a massive pandemic, massive unemployment. People are paying attention to politics in a way they haven't in a long time."

Historian Kathryn Cramer Brownell of Purdue University, author of "Showbiz Politics: Hollywood in American Political Life," said conventions have in recent decades morphed into media spectacles.

She's interested to see how the parties handle these conventions, this week with Democrats in Milwaukee and next week with Republicans meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, and staging prime-time speeches in Washington, D.C.

"Conventions always give you a glimpse into campaign strategies, coalitions that the party is trying to build, messaging, imagery," she said. "This is going to be an unconventional election without being able to have in-person events rallies. It's forcing both parties to adapt. It will show how they'll approach campaigning in 2020."

Pollsters will also be watching the conventions and assessing the public reaction.

Republican Ed Goeas and Democrat Celinda Lake oversee Georgetown University's Battleground Poll.

They were asked about the potential of either side to effect the campaign with their conventions.

Goeas, who was very involved in John McCain’s 2008 GOP convention, cited “the power of conventions to really drive a message.”

“If I have any concern on our side of the aisle it’s (that) I believe the Democrats have been much more aggressive and early in terms of planning their convention to be more viral. Where, I think, the Republicans, we’ve gone through, ‘Are we going to do it in North Carolina, are we going to do it in Florida, are we going to do the speech at a stadium, are we going to do it indoors, are we going to do it at the White House?’ "

He said he expected "the Democratic convention to look much more planned and much more effective in terms of delivering their message.”

“But the fact of conventions getting some attention and putting out a consistent message in a very big way for a week I think will still be as powerful (as in the past) as long as it is hitting on all cylinders, and that’s the real question I have right now. Will both (conventions) be hitting on all cylinders?”  

Lake said this week's convention will help Democrats gain more coverage, especially after recent months when Trump dominated the airwaves through the pandemic.

"There’s still a lot of swing voters that don’t know Joe Biden well and some of our younger base constituents don’t know him that well, so I think this is a great opportunity to really introduce Joe Biden and tell a fuller story," she said. "And then I love the idea that we‘re including … a number of real people’s stories. I think the ‘journeys’ stories about how people have come to their own conclusion that Donald Trump is not right (for the country) can be very powerful to other people who have their own doubts but aren’t sure where to go with them."