US election, coach Walz attacks: deputy from rural America calls for 'turning the page' on Trump and Vance

It was Bill Clinton who really opened the Walz evening by talking about a clear choice in 2024, between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump: 'Between us, the people, on one side and me, myself and I on the other'. Speaking about the presidency, he added: 'Even on bad days, you can do something good' and Kamala Harris is the only candidate with the vision, the experience, the temperament, the will and yes, the sheer joy, to do something good every day. To be our voice'. Again: 'When Harris is president every day will begin with you, you, you, not me, me'. She will be the 'joy president we need'. And he joked that at 78 he is younger than Trump, turning age into a ballast for the Republican.

Clinton was followed by Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the House and still among the party's great leaders. She accused Trump of assaulting democracy by encouraging the 6 January 2021 insurrection against Congress. The defence of democracy 'requires that we elect Harris and Walz'.

But in anticipation of Harris, the evening was orchestrated first and foremost as the night of Walz the coach. Coach of American football boys. High school teacher. National Guard soldier. And a true son of the Midwest and rural America: raised in a tiny Nebraska town and transplanted to the Minnesota province. Where his political career would flourish: popular governor of the state and now Democratic vice presidential candidate alongside Kamala Harris.

This is the image he and the Democratic Party project, from the stage of the United Center in Chicago and from the campaign. It is a progressive image but one of 'small-town values', capable of fending off attacks from Republicans who describe him instead as an extremist, the face not of 'real' America but of radical left-wing ideologies that they ascribe to Harris. Walz can count on 'a lifetime of public service and a commitment to defending the freedoms of all', the convention leadership said. The theme of the entire day was the 'Fight for our freedoms', from abortion to civil and voting rights, which they accuse rival Trump of wanting to erase.

The task of really lifting the curtain on the candidate is left to his biography, which has been told by multiple speakers in the spotlight of the United Center. Only 13% of voters say they know enough about Walz. But he had a good start, better than Trump's vice presidential pick JD Vance: 36% have a positive opinion of Walz, compared to 27% for Vance. Negative opinions come from 25% compared to Vance's 44%.

He has not, however, shied away from missteps - albeit less egregious than Vance, who in the pro-family frenzy attacked childless women and called for more votes for parents with offspring. Walz is criticised for 'massaging' his personal history. He claimed that his wife Gwen had resorted to in-vitro fertilisation, while he used different treatments. And he suggested that he had taken weapons to war, while he had never been in combat zones.

The Republicans also want to highlight the left-wing economic policies of which he has been a champion in Minnesota, thanks to a Democrat-controlled local legislature: strong government spending, starting with welfare and schools, and record infrastructure investments. In all, some thirty laws have been dubbed a new 'Minnesota miracle', so much so that liberal associations joke that they are out of a job. Regulations have imposed transparency on drug prices, bans on the most harmful chemicals, offered free college to the underserved including new immigrants, free meals in compulsory schooling, gun control, paid absences for medical and family reasons, rights for transgender patients, 100 per cent clean energy by 2040 and the legalisation of marijuana for recreational purposes. But also, a more moderate proposal, funds for police and security.

Republican candidate Donald Trump for his part is back in action with his first open-air rally since the attack he suffered in Pennsylvania: in North Carolina, amid new security measures including bulletproof glass, he spoke of national security, accusing the Democrats of weakness and of wanting to 'destroy America'. The answer, indirectly, came at the Convention from Susan Rice, former ambassador to the UN: she said that Harris would arrive at the White House with more experience than many predecessors. As vice-president, she recalled, she had 'visited over twenty countries and met with international leaders'.

Walz also brings with him an unusual knowledge of his strategic opponent, China: he had taught in the country in the 1980s and organised student exchanges. As an MP, he had also investigated human rights violations in the country and met the Dalai Lama. Despite this, for Republicans, his continued interest in China has become grounds for attack: several conservative MPs have speculated that Walz is a 'Chinese agent' and announced investigations, asking the FBI for information on whether he may have been recruited by Beijing intelligence. Spokesmen for Walz denounced the Republican 'lies'.