CHARLOTTE -- The second day of the Democratic convention features one president -- Bill Clinton -- promoting another -- Barack Obama. 
 
 USA TODAY is providing full coverage of the Democratic National Convention online and in print. Check local TV listings for when you can catch the action from the Time Warner Cable Arena. 
 
 Here are five things to watch for Wednesday, Sept. 5: 
 
 1) Bubba is back: Observers will be looking to see how much Bill Clinton talks about Obama, and how much he talks about his own record from the 1990s. Also in the back of every Democrat's mind: Will Hillary Rodham Clinton run for president in 2016? The former president speaks last, probably starting after 10:30 p.m. ET 
 
 2) Elizabeth Warren is ready for her close-up: Warren, a Harvard law professor and long-time consumer advocate, is the Democratic nominee for Senate in Massachusetts. It's one of the nation's hottest Senate races, and could determine which party controls the chamber. She is challenging Republican incumbent Scott Brown, who won the seat after the death of Edward Kennedy. 
 
 3) Locking down the women's vote: Warren is one a series of female speakers at the convention, as Obama seeks to exploit his advantage over Republican challenger Mitt Romney among female voters, using such issues as contraceptives and abortion rights. Among the speakers tonight: Sandra Fluke, who was called a "slut" and "prostitute" by radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh after she testified on behalf of contraception services in health care plans. 
 
 4) The "great state" roll call: Officially, the convention is about nominating Obama and Vice President Biden to a second term and to do that, the roll call is required. Obama had no major party opposition in the primary season, so guess who's the favorite? But it's unclear how much TV viewers will see: The roll call is supposed to begin after Clinton speaks. 
 
 5) The arrival: President Obama arrives in Charlotte this afternoon. Will he make a "surprise" appearance at the convention? Perhaps on stage with Bill Clinton? We don't know. We do know Obama will address the convention on Thursday night. ||||| (CNN) -- The second night of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, featured speeches by Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States, as well as Elizabeth Warren, candidate for the U.S. Senate. The following contributors offered their assessments. 
 
 Analysis: Clinton speech hit Obama's marks 
 
 Alan Brinkley: Clinton was not only charismatic, but serious 
 
 It has always been remarkable, I think, how Bill Clinton can bring a crowd alive, and that's what he did on Wednesday night. It was a speech full of wonky policy issues, the things he likes so well. But after so many months of paid advertisements playing ugly criticisms of the opposition, Clinton was not only charismatic, but serious. 
 
 For years now, conventions have been carefully organized for television without any real energy or excitement, one of the reasons that so few people are watching them anymore. But Clinton turned the convention into a real conversation about policy, about politics, and about the future. 
 
 His viewers might not agree with much of what he says, but his speech was still an event of the campaign. I wonder whether President Obama, who can give a pretty good speech himself, feels that Clinton has overtaken him. I wonder if Clinton's speech will lead to a more honest way of arguing about ideas and policy. I doubt it. But it might help at least some people to think about serious things. 
 
 Alan Brinkley is the Allan Nevins professor of history at Columbia University. 
 
 John Avlon: Our most talented politician makes Obama's case 
 
 Bill Clinton's speech reminded many Americans why he remains our country's most beloved and naturally talented politician, for all his faults. 
 
 On Wednesday night, he cut through the predictable partisan spin by making a credible and compelling case for Barack Obama's re-election -- better, frankly, than the president has made himself to date. 
 
 Full disclosure: I was a Clinton kid. I was a freshman in college in 1992, and Bubba's campaign inspired the sense that there was a third way, between the far right and far left, that could actually solve problems instead of simply demagoguing them. He was my sub-generation's JFK, and he inspired my unapologetic centrist politics. 
 
 Bill Clinton can talk policy without putting anyone to sleep. That means communicating a love of ideas that can be put into action. And so in Wednesday night's speech he offered a seminar in how to contrast constructively; putting forward stats that resonate with common-sense values. 
 
 Case in point: Clinton's analysis of health care reform, and even the comparative deficit and debt plans, resonates on Main Street because he talks in terms of values and respects the intelligence of the American people. He surgically skewered the alternative Republican plans as well. In the process, he reminded us that good policy can be good politics, connecting with humor to the head and heart. 
 
 Opinion: Bill Clinton, the reverse Clint Eastwood? 
 
 Some of the unrelenting Clinton nostalgia from baby boomers stems from the fact that he reminds them of when they were younger than today, and possibly wealthier and more influential than they might be now. But the fact that Bill and Hillary Clinton are today apparently the most admired Democrats among Republicans -- who once made hating them a cottage industry, as they do with the Obamas today -- is ironic and sadly hilarious, a reminder of how shallow and unprincipled poisonous hyperpartisanship always ultimately is. 
 
 If Bill Clinton were constitutionally eligible for another term, he would win. If swing voters all listened to Wednesday night's speech, I believe Barack Obama would win this election. 
 
 But Clinton's speech Wednesday night was both a seminar and a reminder of why we should love civic debates, as a matter of style and substance, focused on policy as well as politics. Write this line down: "Democracy ... does not have to be a blood sport; it can be an honorable enterprise that advances the human interest." Remember it and aspire to it, taking heart amid all the heat, to persevere in the belief that something at least a little bit better can always be within our reach. 
 
 John Avlon is a CNN contributor and senior political columnist for Newsweek and The Daily Beast. He is co-editor of the book "Deadline Artists: America's Greatest Newspaper Columns." He is a regular contributor to "Erin Burnett OutFront" and is a member of the OutFront Political Strike Team. For more political analysis, tune in to "Erin Burnett OutFront" at 7 ET weeknights. 
 
 Maria Cardona: Clinton answers the 'better off' question with resounding 'Yes!' 
 
 President Clinton's speech, delivered in his unique, well, Clintonesque manner, crystallized the choice this election. He spelled out in the way only he can why Republicans seem to have a visceral reaction to President Obama and how that has kept them from putting the interests of the nation before their politics. And he did it with emotion that was rational, passionate and pragmatic. 
 
 He spoke directly to those disaffected swing voters who are disenchanted with the pace of the change they voted for in 2008, by explaining that it was not Obama who changed or who didn't work to deliver, it was the Republicans who kowtowed to their extreme wings and put the goal of defeating the president before any commitment to solving the big problems facing this nation. 
 
 He set the record straight on Medicare and on GOP fabrications about Obama's stance on welfare reform, and he unequivocally answered the question of whether we are better off today than when Obama took office: The answer was a resounding yes. Clinton's credibility and history with a similar economic situation (though Clinton said that no president could have fixed the damage Obama was handed in just four years) made him the right messenger to the right audience at the right time for Obama. He delivered and he delivered big. 
 
 Other notable speeches? Elizabeth Warren, Cristina Saralegui -- the Latina Oprah Winfrey -- and of course Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University law student smeared by Rush Limbaugh for speaking out for contraception coverage. They spoke to critical audiences within the Democratic Party: progressives who see Warren as a champion and crusader for consumer protection against a Wall Street run amok; progressive and independent women for whom Fluke embodies concern about politicians making decisions about their bodies, their families and their lives; and Latinos for whom Saralegui is an icon. She was introduced by a compelling "Dreamer," Benita Veliz, underscoring the importance of immigration reform. 
 
 All three women spoke eloquently and from the heart about the only candidate in the race they said would fight for middle-class families, women, Latinos, Dreamers. One who would uphold the ideals of fairness, opportunity, hard work and compassion that reflect a country where everyone has the chance to achieve the American dream. 
 
 Maria Cardona is a Democratic strategist, a principal at the Dewey Square Group, a former senior adviser to Hillary Clinton and former communications director for the Democratic National Committee. 
 
 Gergen: Now it's up to Obama 
 
 Ana Navarro: Sweet justice for the man from Hope, Arkansas 
 
 On Wednesday night, Bill Clinton showed us what a political comeback looks like. In 2008, during the Democrat primary, he went from being the "first black president" to being accused of racism. 
 
 I know Bill Clinton, and when I saw him shortly after the election, he was deeply hurt. He thought Obama and the media had been terribly unfair to Hillary and to him. 
 
 Tonight, the man who was marginalized in 2008 came to the rescue of the man who marginalized him. And he did it in classic Clinton style: long, didactic, funny and very damn good. 
 
 I am a Republican, but I love a good political speech regardless of who gives it. Clinton was at the top of his game. He started with a bipartisan preamble, even giving credit to Presidents Bush 41 and 43. Then he went on to teach a master lesson on a partisan attack. 
 
 It says a lot about how Clinton is perceived and how Joe Biden is perceived that the former president got a night as the headliner all to his own, while the sitting vice president did not. 
 
 This night was sweet justice for the man from Hope, Arkansas. In 2000, Al Gore wanted to be his own man and couldn't keep Clinton far enough away. Today, Barack Obama wants to be Bill Clinton's heir and cannot keep him close enough. However, this does create a problem for Obama. He now needs to top Clinton's speech, and Bill set the bar quite high. 
 
 Ana Navarro, a Republican strategist and commentator, served as national Hispanic campaign chairwoman for John McCain in 2008 and national Hispanic co-chair for Jon Huntsman's 2012 campaign. 
 
 Ruben Navarrette: A great storyteller, but you have to read between the lines 
 
 Bubba is back. And, from the sound of it, he never left. 
 
 Bill Clinton did Wednesday what he needed to do for Barack Obama. With a speech that was substantive and entertaining, the Democrats' Great Communicator energized the party's base. He laid out the narrative of the Obama presidency, better than anyone in this administration -- including the president himself -- has been able to do in the last three and a half years. He recited and refuted some of the more damning criticisms that Republicans lodged against Obama last week at their convention. And he assured the American people that he -- to continue a familiar theme from the Clinton years -- felt their pain and understood their worry over a fragile economy. 
 
 This being a Clinton speech, there were great lines. The former president pointed out that Obama had appointed to his cabinet people who had supported Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primary. "Heck," Clinton said, "he even appointed Hillary." 
 
 And this being a Clinton speech, there were also half-truths. For instance, you remember when GOP vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan was criticized by the left for blaming Obama for not acting on the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles plan for debt reduction, without revealing the little detail about how he himself didn't support it. Clinton called the Simpson-Bowles commission a "balanced approach" but didn't mention that Obama had failed to heed its recommendations. 
 
 As someone who writes a lot about immigration, I heard one other line that jumped out at me: "If you think the president was right to open the doors of American opportunity to young immigrants brought here as children who want to go to college or serve in the military," Clinton said, "You should vote for Barack Obama." 
 
 He was referring to Obama's announcement several weeks ago that the Department of Homeland Security would take applications from young illegal immigrants who are interested in two years of temporary "deferred action" to keep them from being deported. 
 
 Again, Clinton left out one detail that suggests he is the last person who should talk about deporting anyone. 
 
 Immigration attorneys tell me that when they're fighting a deportation order against an individual, they first must overcome the legacy of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. That law, which was authored by a Republican -- Texas Rep. Lamar Smith -- makes it easier for the federal government to deport illegal immigrants and harder to fight their removals. And who signed that terrible bill into law? 
 
 Yep, Bill Clinton. The former president is a great storyteller, as we all know. But, whether he is defending Obama or himself, you have to read between the lines. 
 
 Ruben Navarrette is a CNN contributor and a nationally syndicated columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group. 
 
 Memorable lines from the speeches 
 
 Joanne Bamberger: Reaching voters at the 'ragged edge of the middle class' 
 
 Elizabeth Warren was a great choice for the party faithful to introduce former president Bill Clinton. In the telling of her personal story of pulling herself up by her own bootstraps, as well as her reluctance to take on the bigger political struggle of running for Senate, she was able to connect the crowd with a message that is central to the Democrats' message: that the country has been built on the backs of middle-class people who struggle every day, not the supposed "job creators," a la Bain Capital. 
 
 Warren also used her story of creating the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau to remind voters that the system is rigged through the tax code for the wealthy. Using a "calling it like she sees it" approach, she reminded the crowd that there's a big difference for the country between celebrating the success of those who do the hard work of everyday life, and those who funnel money into offshore accounts, something most families can't even fathom. 
 
 The themes of the night were inclusion and partnership for Clinton, who used his speech to help map out the clear difference between the two parties, as he reiterated that Republicans aren't reluctant to eat their own if they deviate one small inch from their party line. 
 
 One doesn't have to have experienced living at the "ragged edge of the middle class" to have empathy for those who have. Both Warren and Clinton did have moments in their lives when they were at those ragged edges, and that's what makes them powerful voices for their party to reach those voters who are still at that edge. 
 
 Joanne Bamberger is the author of "Mothers of Intention: How Women and Social Media are Revolutionizing Politics in America." 
 
 Obama to speak after Clinton's forceful endorsement 
 
 Roland Martin: President Clinton gives the GOP hell for one night 
 
 In sports, every coach desires a big game player who, no matter the game or the conditions or the opponent, will show up and deliver in the clutch. 
 
 In politics, President Bill Clinton is such a player. 
 
 The Time Warner Arena was constantly on fire Wednesday, each speaker giving the next a hard act to follow. But when the 42nd president of the United States took to the stage, there was no doubt that he still has it. 
 
 Every major applause line, Clinton hit. And he didn't do so by offering up a lofty speech. It was homespun, down-home. The audience ate it up. 
 
 For the GOP, it had to be painful to see a former president back on the big stage delivering a big speech for an incumbent president facing a tough re-election campaign. 
 
 President Clinton gave the GOP hell for eight years. Wednesday night, he gave them hell for one more night. 
 
 Roland Martin is a syndicated columnist and author of "The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House." He is a commentator for the TV One cable network and host/managing editor of its Sunday morning news show, "Washington Watch with Roland Martin." 
 
 Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion. 
 
 Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion. 
 
 The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the authors. ||||| For Barack Obama, the risk of Bill Clinton is worth the reward. Their sometimes awkward relationship will be showcased tonight when the former president takes the stage to place the current president’s name in nomination at the Democratic National Convention. 
 
 “There’s the possibility of Clinton outshining Obama,” said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University in Houston. “But that’s a minor fear if you’re Obama, to having Clinton embrace you in prime time.” 
 
 Read More: Bloomberg Insider - Convention 2012 
 
 Bloomberg Insider - Convention 2012 Download:Bloomberg Insider 9/5 
 
 The relationship between the two men has long been a complicated one. Clinton, 66, often referred to as the Big Dog by fans and foes alike because of his stature in the party, was outraged by Obama’s treatment of his wife, Hillary Clinton, during the 2008 primary campaign and miffed he didn’t often seek his advice until after the Democrats’ losses in the 2010 midterm elections. 
 
 Brinkley said tension between past and present presidents isn’t unusual. Hillary Clinton’s role as secretary of state in the Obama administration has added a level of complexity to the relationship. 
 
 “It sort of forces camaraderie between Obama and Clinton,” he said. “They are not intimate or close or personal friends, but they are sort of forced to tolerate each other.” 
 
 Boom Times 
 
 The threat of losing the White House has united the two leaders, the most popular figures in their party in recent history. Still, Clinton’s prominent role in Obama’s re-election convention could remind voters of the booming economic times during the former president’s tenure in the 1990s. 
 
 Matthew Dowd, a Bloomberg analyst and political consultant, told those gathered yesterday at a Bloomberg-sponsored panel discussion near the convention site in Charlotte, North Carolina, that Obama’s campaign needs to be careful about contrasting Clinton and Obama too much. 
 
 There’s a chance undecided voters could say to themselves, “Barack Obama is not like that kind of president. He’s never going to be like that kind of president and maybe I’m going to try a new guy,” said Dowd, a former strategist for President George W. Bush. 
 
 “They have to be really careful with Bill Clinton,” he said. “I think they can overdo this.” 
 
 An Obama campaign spokeswoman yesterday played down the risk that voters would compare Obama to the more prosperous days of the Clinton administration, when the national unemployment rate dropped from above 7 percent to below 4 percent. 
 
 ‘Deeply Involved’ 
 
 “He is somebody who can speak directly from experience, not only from his time as president in the ’90s, but also as somebody who’s been deeply involved in the last decade post- presidency about what we need to do to move this country forward,” re-election spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters traveling with Obama in Virginia. 
 
 Counter to typical protocol of vetting speeches well in advance of their convention delivery, Obama’s campaign hadn’t yet seen the text of Clinton’s speech as of early yesterday. 
 
 “But we have had lots of conversations with President Clinton and his team,” Jim Messina, Obama’s campaign manager said at a separate Bloomberg News breakfast in Charlotte. “He’s going to give a great speech tomorrow night.” 
 
 Stephanie Cutter, the deputy campaign manager, said at the same event that “someone in our organization is likely to see the speech before the president gives it, just because that’s normal course of business.” 
 
 Courting Independents 
 
 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has himself tried to draw Bill Clinton into the campaign. The former Massachusetts governor has spoken favorably about the former president’s White House tenure in an effort to appeal to independent voters and show he doesn’t disparage all Democrats. 
 
 “President Obama tucked away the Clinton doctrine in his large drawer of discarded ideas, along with transparency and bipartisanship,” Romney said in Des Moines on May 15. “It’s enough to make you wonder if maybe it was a personal beef with the Clintons, but probably it runs much deeper than that.” 
 
 As is the case with many presidents, Clinton’s popularity has grown since he left office. Two-thirds of Americans have a favorable opinion of him, according to a Gallup poll in July. 
 
 Clinton could help Obama, 51, win over “white middle-class voters” in battleground states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Brinkley said. 
 
 Credibility on Economy 
 
 “There is only one person in the world who knows how to put an economy back on its feet after a president named Bush and that’s Bill Clinton,” said Mary Anne Marsh, a Boston-based Democratic strategist, referring to the administration of President George H. W. Bush. “Given his credibility on the economy and with voters, it’s hard to imagine a better endorsement Barack Obama could get.” 
 
 Clinton’s speech is just part of a multi-faceted campaign effort on Obama’s behalf. He’s been drafted to serve as a prime surrogate for campaign events, pitched Obama’s economic policy, raised money, endorsed the president’s rescue of the U.S. auto industry and highlighted his killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. 
 
 Like virtually any high-profile personality, Clinton can go off-message, too. During a May 31 CNN interview, he undercut the narrative Obama’s campaign has tried to build around Romney being interested only in profits when he was a private-equity executive, saying that a “man who has been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold.” 
 
 ‘More Relevant’ 
 
 In a subsequent interview with PBS, Clinton said it’s “much more relevant” to look at what Romney did as governor and what he says he’d do as president. 
 
 In one of Obama’s campaign ads, Clinton frames the election as a “clear choice” between a Republican plan to cut taxes for upper-income earners and the president’s proposals to strengthen the middle class by spending more on education and job training. 
 
 “We need to keep going with his plan,” Clinton says in the ad, which ran 2,299 times from Aug. 24 to Aug. 27, according to New York-based Kantar Media’s CMAG, which tracks advertising. Another Obama campaign ad cites Clinton in its response to a Romney spot that says Obama wants to remove work requirements from welfare. 
 
 People knowledgeable about the relationship say that while the two are in a good place, it isn’t one described as overly warm. Obama and Clinton are respectful and friendly, without being effusive. 
 
 To contact the reporter on this story: John McCormick in Charlotte, North Carolina at jmccormick16@bloomberg.net 
 
 To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jeanne Cummings at jcummings21@bloomberg.net ||||| LAS VEGAS — Fast approaching her final decision on a running mate, Hillary Clinton appears to be looking closely at Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine and Labor Secretary Tom Perez, say multiple people who are in regular contact with her inner circle. 
 
 But it’s another member of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet whose stock has been steadily and notably rising in recent days, vaulting him into what close Clinton friends call the “top tier": Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 A subject of increasing speculation within Clinton’s political orbit over the past two weeks, the former Iowa governor was also the talk of Democrats at the National Governors Association meeting in Des Moines over the weekend, said people familiar with the proceedings — especially after Donald Trump introduced another Midwestern state executive, Indiana’s Mike Pence, as his own running mate. 
 
 While Kaine, a former governor himself, is still widely regarded as the front-runner for the job by those in attendance, a handful of Vilsack’s fellow current and former Midwestern governors advocated for him behind closed doors during the proceedings, and the secretary himself suggested in conversations there that he was under serious consideration, according to individuals familiar with the discussions. 
 
 The timing of the surge of attention couldn’t come at a better time for the man who has been recently increasing his national media presence through a series of interviews and public events as a surrogate. Over the weekend, he went so far as to defend his foreign policy chops during a Sunday show appearance. 
 
 Clinton is likely to announce her pick in the coming days, almost certainly in the time between the Republican convention and her own — and possibly during her first general election campaign trip to Florida on Friday and Saturday, to minimize any bump in the polls Trump receives from his Cleveland convention. 
 
 The presumptive Democratic nominee has increasingly been appearing with her vice-presidential hopefuls in the days leading up to that moment, including Kaine on Thursday and Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown on Monday, and the candidate and a gaggle of her top aides spent Friday at her Washington home to go over her options. 
 
 A handful of them — including Housing Secretary Julián Castro, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper — stopped by for in-person meetings, as Clinton has sought to get to know them better. 
 
 That’s not a concern for Vilsack, the single prospect who has had a long personal relationship with the former secretary of state, dating back decades before they served four years in the same Cabinet. That relationship has bolstered his boosters’ case for him in recent days, but they also note that he could stand to play a significant role as Clinton courts white working-class men — especially in rural areas — in the Midwest, a constituency she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, are particularly concerned about as Trump targets them. 
 
 Clinton largely lost blue-collar white men to Bernie Sanders in the primary, and a Washington Post/ABC News poll released last week showed that 75 percent of white men hold an unfavorable view of her. 
 
 Vilsack demurred on Monday when POLITICO asked whether he is currently going through Team Clinton’s vetting process — “Has anyone ever answered that question?” he shot back — but he did speak in general terms about the factors that are fueling his apparent rise. 
 
 “I’m a workhorse, not a show horse,” said the former two-term governor, who has long been rumored as a potential chief of staff in a Clinton White House, echoing a line that the candidate herself often uses when talking about her work in the Senate. “Not a rock star; I’m rock solid. I’m all about doing, and getting things done. It’s not in my nature to market myself. My nature is to market what we’re doing in my department, and in my state. I don’t know if that’s the reason, but we work hard down here, and we get things done." 
 
 Vilsack — like Kaine — doesn’t have a fiery campaign trail presence and is unlikely to be the running mate chosen if Clinton and her advisers determine that she’s most in need of a high-profile attack dog to take on Trump. He’s started referring to Trump as the “Bernie Madoff of politics” in interviews, but some Democrats have started cracking that Vilsack practically makes Kaine — often cast as the boring one — look interesting by comparison. 
 
 Vilsack’s trail presence for months has been more focused on lavishing praise on Clinton. Last August, for example, Vilsack’s adoration for Clinton was on full display as he introduced her in Ankeny, Iowa, before she unveiled her rural policy platform — which he helped craft. He listed all of her accomplishments and talked about their friendship and their shared political history. His 15-minute introduction of the former secretary of state was so complimentary it was almost overkill. 
 
 “I will and my wife will always remain loyal to our friend, Hillary Clinton,” said Vilsack, the longest-serving member of the Cabinet, who’s traveled to all 50 states in that capacity but maintained a relatively low national profile, 
 
 “Talk about somebody who studies a problem, asks for advice about what will work, puts together teams, collaborates and then delivers,” Clinton said as she took the stage. “He is exhibit A.” 
 
 Yet after the presumptive Republican nominee tapped the little-known Pence over the bomb-throwing former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Friday, many Democrats’ concern about the need for a sharp-elbowed running mate dissipated, figuring that a relatively fireworks-free Pence-Kaine or Pence-Vilsack debate would not be likely to harm Clinton’s chances. 
 
 A relatively low-key public profile, after all, ranks low on the list of running-mate concerns compared to the prospect of losing an Ohio Senate seat to Republicans if Clinton were to choose Brown. And Vilsack supporters insist he could be a net positive on the campaign trail if he began talking more about his own background, starting with his early life in a Pittsburgh orphanage. 
 
 Clinton is aware, however, of the perception that by choosing someone like Kaine or Vilsack she would be playing it safe — one reason her campaign has been happy to maintain a sense of unpredictability by keeping a long list of hopefuls in the public discussion. 
 
 Still, sketching out the electoral map, people close to Clinton see Vilsack as a potentially useful tool as they court both the voters who eluded her during the primary and those of Iowa, a crucial swing state. 
 
 “I believe he’s always been in the circle of people that not only Hillary is considering, but I’m sure her advisers, including Bill, and others see [as] a viable running mate,” explained former Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, also pointing to Vilsack’s roots in Pennsylvania, another likely battleground. “He’s someone who can relate to white men in rural areas, small towns and communities." 
 
 Both Iowans pointed to Ohio and Wisconsin as other strategically useful swing states where a rural focus could benefit Clinton — each of which also has a tight Senate race that could be swayed by a strong rural performance. 
 
 “I don’t want to compare myself to other people [in contention for the job], but I will tell you I’ve spoken with so many groups and I’ve represented those folks as a small-town lawyer, as a small-town mayor, as a state senator, then representing the state. I understand those folks and their struggles,” Vilsack said. “In this particular election, given the uneasiness people have about Mr. Trump in small towns where I’ve been working, there’s an openness [to Democrats].” 
 
 People in contact with Clinton’s inner circle often note that the former secretary of state and first lady — having seen two president-vice president relationships up close — is eager to find someone she can easily work with, and Vilsack’s long history with both the candidate and Bill Clinton is likely a point in his favor. 
 
 They first met over 40 years ago, when Hillary Clinton and Vilsack’s late brother-in-law, Tom Bell, worked together on the Senate Watergate Committee. They grew closer during Bill Clinton’s White House tenure, when she helped his 1998 campaign that made him Iowa’s first Democratic governor in three decades — Christie Vilsack, who works as a top official at U.S. Agency for International Development, often tells friends about the time she and her husand stayed in the White House in the late 1990s, when he was still in the Iowa state Senate. The Vilsacks and then-President Bill Clinton stayed up until the wee hours of the morning visiting over Diet Cokes. 
 
 After Vilsack ended his own short-lived 2008 presidential bid, he became a top surrogate for then-Sen. Hillary Clinton in her race against Obama. 
 
 Vilsack has already quietly been involved with her campaign in recent months, and they still speak regularly, said people close to them both: In early 2015, he directly urged Clinton to install Matt Paul — his longtime aide, and now one of Clinton’s senior traveling advisers — to run her team in Iowa after hearing that she was leaning in another direction. 
 
 The one big political blemish Vilsack has on his record is the 2010 firestorm over his firing of Shirley Sherrod, a Georgia USDA official whom the late Andrew Breitbart had accused of making racist statements that were quickly debunked. The Obama administration later apologized and offered Sherrod her job back, though she declined the offer. 
 
 The current chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Mike Conaway, a Republican from Texas, praised Vilsack — even though he’s supporting Trump. 
 
 “He’s a capable guy. I give him good marks for what he did as secretary of ag for 7½ years,” Conaway told POLITICO. “It’s not surprising that someone of his caliber and quality would be on her shortlist.” 
 
 Catherine Boudreau and Ian Kullgren contributed to this report. ||||| BOSTON -- Ask any Republican or Democrat to name the most important Senate races in the fight for control of the Democratic-led chamber, and they will undoubtedly include one state in particular: Massachusetts. The state's Republican Sen. Scott Brown will go up against Democrat and Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren in what polling indicates is likely to be a close race. 
 
 Such a contest, so far the most expensive U.S. Senate race, was not unexpected in this traditionally Democratic state. Brown, 52, shocked the political establishment in 2010 with his victory in the special election to fill the late Ted Kennedy's seat. This is the year that Kennedy would have been up for re-election, so Brown is up again a mere two years after his first win. 
 
 Those familiar with Massachusetts politics, including Brown himself, always expected Democrats to mount an attempt to take back the seat this time around. 
 
 WHAT TO KNOW A closer look at what's going on in the most closely watched Senate race in the country 
 
 "They want the Kennedy seat back very badly," Brown told ABC News. "They've made that clear. But bottom line is, it's not the Kennedy seat, it's not the Democrats seat, it's still the people's seat." 
 
 What was unknown was who would jump in to challenge the freshmen senator. That candidate turned out to be Warren, a professor at Harvard Law School and creator of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a newly formed, federal department that came about under the Obama administration. 
 
 With a good level of name recognition established as a result of her work with the agency, as well as her oversight of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (more commonly known as TARP) and a lengthy resume, Warren was the Democrats' answer to the much-considered question of who could challenge the popular senator. Warren, 63, announced her candidacy in September 2011, and the race has been fierce ever since. 
 
 The candidates share the same wedding anniversary date, and each one has proven to be a strong fundraiser. But the similarities end there. Brown, who was recently promoted to colonel in the Army National Guard, plays up his regular-guy image (he famously drove his pickup truck around the state when campaigning in 2010) and his bipartisan record. His campaign has run a series of ads featuring a slew of prominent Massachusetts' Democrats, such as former Boston Mayor Ray Flynn, endorsing the Republican candidate. His history of reaching across the aisle is something Brown highlights himself. 
 
 "Bottom line is, I'm the second-most bipartisan senator in the U.S. Senate," Brown said. "I've done exactly what I said I was going to do, which is to read the bills, understand them, see how they affect Massachusetts, our country, our debt, our deficit and vote." 
 
 Warren's campaign has also talked a lot about her humble beginnings: Her father worked as a janitor in Oklahoma, she received a scholarship from George Washington University at age 16. But the campaign has also emphasized her history of protecting the consumer, and of fighting for the middle class. 
 
 "I didn't get into this race based on some strategic vision of I could check off six boxes and somehow win the Senate seat," she said. For me, it truly is around the urgency of the movement. I guess you could say the fight came to me." 
 
 The conversation in the Senate race has mirrored the presidential race, with Brown attacking Warren for comments she made in 2011 when she said "there is nobody in this country who got rich on his own." The comments mirror Obama's "you didn't build that" remarks last month on which Republicans have pounced. 
 
 Brown last week launched a "Thank You for Building This" tour, as part of his campaign's efforts to highlight the senator's support for free enterprise. Brown kicked off the tour Friday by bringing coffee and donuts to a construction crew in Framingham, Mass. 
 
 "I've visited over 500 businesses, this is an extension of what I've been doing since I was elected," Brown said. "I'm going to go out there and thank those job creators, people who have put their hard earned sweat equity, their livelihood on the line, and my word to them is, 'Thank you.'" 
 
 Warren isn't backing down from her comments, however. Indeed, the first-time candidate has made infrastructure a big part of her proposed policy agenda, recently launching her "Rebuild Now" tour that calls for an investment in the country's infrastructure. 
 
 "American businesses can compete with anyone so long as they're competing on a level playing field," Warren said. "But when the Chinese are making big investments in infrastructure, that means that their businesses will get their goods to market on state-of-the-art roads and bridges, they'll have state-of-the-art communications and power ... that gives their businesses a real competitive advantage over the next 25 years." 
 
 Warren's unapologetic support for such government investment has helped to make her a rising star within the Democratic base. Her status was highlighted by the recent announcement that she would have a prominent speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., next month. Warren will be introducing Bill Clinton. 
 
 "I'm going to talk about what I've talked about for years now," Warren said when asked about her speech. "America's middle class is getting hammered and Washington is rigged to work for the big guy. That's what got me into this race, and that's what I will talk about." 
 
 Whether it will win over the hearts of a majority of Massachusetts voters is the bigger question, though. The race is everywhere in the state: turn on the radio, glance a newspaper, even just walk down the streets of Boston and you will hear an ad, see an article, or pass by a bumper sticker for one of the two candidates. And that presence is only going to increase in the coming weeks and months. 
 
 The race is the most expensive Senate race in the country so far in terms of money raised. A combined total of $46 million has been raised already, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and so Massachusetts residents can expect to be blanketed with a lot more TV, radio and Internet advertising as November draws closer. Voters will also get a chance to see Brown and Warren go head-to-head soon. In the fall, the candidates will face off in a series of four televised debates. 
 
 What voters might not see, however, are ads from outside groups. Brown and Warren in January signed an agreement called "the People's Pledge," which vowed to keep advertisements from third-party spending groups out of the race. Eight months later, the pledge is still in place. Warren says she believes the plan has allowed the candidates to focus more on the issues. 
 
 "It has at least opened the space to be able to talk about issues," Warren said. 
 
 For months now, polling has shown the two candidates in a statistical tie, and barring any big surprises, it's expected to stay that way. Unsurprisingly, each candidate holds a different opinion on what the race is ultimately about. 
 
 "This is really about jobs and the economy and how we are going to get our country moving again," Brown said. "You're going to have somebody down there who has been doing his job, me, working on the issues that matter, jobs and the economy, versus somebody who's a rock- thrower and doesn't want to compromise." 
 
 Warren said, "I think it's about the kind of people we are, and the kind of people we're trying to be. 
 
 "To me, it's about this vision, what kind of people are we and what kind of country are we trying to be?" ||||| PHILADELPHIA — Hillary Clinton and her team aren’t thrilled that the head of the Democratic National Committee was forced out on the eve of the nominee’s coronation — but they aren’t exactly distraught to see Debbie Wasserman Schultz booted from the tent. 
 
 Several senior Democratic officials with ties to Hillary and Bill Clinton told POLITICO that campaign higher-ups have been trying to replace the oft-off-message Florida congresswoman from the start of Clinton’s campaign late last year. 
 
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 John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman — and a former top adviser to Barack Obama — broached the idea of replacing Wasserman Schultz as early as last fall, only to be rebuffed by the president’s team, according to two people with direct knowledge of the conversation. 
 
 “It came down to the fact that the president didn’t want the hassle of getting rid of Debbie,” said a former top Obama adviser. “It’s been a huge problem for the Clintons, but the president just didn’t want the headache of Debbie bad-mouthing him. ... It was a huge pain in the ass.” 
 
 The Obama team — especially 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina — long viewed Wasserman Schultz as a major campaign liability, questioning her fundraising prowess and her tendency to appoint personal aides to positions of authority, prioritizing loyalty over competence and effectiveness as a spokesperson for Democrats. At the time, senior campaign officials leaked details of an internal survey, conducted by pollster David Binder, showing Wasserman Schultz was the least-liked Obama surrogate; she later dismissed the report as “National Enquirer” dross. 
 
 After Obama’s 2012 victory, Messina and longtime political adviser Patrick Gaspard, who worked under Wasserman Schultz at the DNC, pressed the president to push her out, advising that he tap former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak as her replacement. Obama — who cared little for the party machinations — figured the move would be more trouble than it was worth and told his aides that he was OK having Wasserman Schultz serve as chairwoman until he left office. “It’s embarrassing that Obama left the problem for Hillary,” one former West Wing adviser told POLITICO. 
 
 Yet the aggregated animosity toward her led to a swift and brutal conclusion to her five-plus year tenure at the helm of the president’s party. Wasserman Schultz resigned less than 24 hours after WikiLeaks posted dozens of emails showing her staff working to undermine the insurgent campaign of Bernie Sanders in order to aid a Clinton organization they often derided as inept and timid. 
 
 “I know that electing Hillary Clinton as our next president is critical for America’s future,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement issued after a day of back-and-forth with top Democratic officials urging her to step down for the sake of party unity ahead of Clinton's big week. “I look forward to serving as a surrogate for her campaign in Florida and across the country to ensure her victory. ... Going forward, the best way for me to accomplish those goals is to step down as party chair at the end of this convention.” 
 
 The move had to happen on Sunday, said a senior Democrat: Sanders-supporting delegates — without the buy-in of his campaign — had been organizing an effort over the preceding day to have state delegations vote to demand her resignation at the Monday morning caucus breakfasts. Given the number of delegations in which Sanders supporters are the majority, the movement would likely have spread, overtaking any other news on the convention’s opening day. 
 
 Clinton campaign officials declined numerous attempts by phone, email and text to respond to this story. 
 
 But the Clinton campaign was very much involved in the DNC chair’s defenestration. Earlier in the day Sunday, Sanders had again suggested that Wasserman Schultz should resign — and DNC officials announced she would be replaced as convention chair by Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge, an influential member of the Congressional Black Caucus. By sundown — after intense negotiations with senior Clinton campaign officials — the committee tapped longtime Clinton aide, TV surrogate and party vice-chair Donna Brazile as interim chairwoman. 
 
 It was an embarrassing episode — and a sign of discord that Republicans, fresh off their own fractious convention pounced on. “I know firsthand how hard it is being the chair of a national party, but when you rig a system and spread emails around with each other and senior staff in that matter, this outcome is inevitable,” said Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, during a news conference here on Sunday, barely suppressing his glee. “Obviously, the end has come and I don’t think there was any other outcome that was foreseeable. These events show what an uphill climb the Democrats were facing in unifying their party.” 
 
 Wasserman Schultz booed during speech to Florida delegates An excerpt of Debbie Wasserman Schultz address to Florida delegates in Philadelphia. poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201607/270/1155968404_5049042510001_5049021957001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true 
 
 But, to senior Democrats, it also represented a clean-up operation that brought Clinton and Sanders — who has demanded her ouster for months — into closer alignment a day before the Vermont senator was due to deliver his opening-night endorsement of an opponent he long accused of rigging the election with the help of the D.C.-based party establishment. 
 
 “Debbie Wasserman Schultz has made the right decision for the future of the Democratic Party," Sanders said in a don’t-let-the-door-hit-you-on-the-way-out statement Sunday afternoon. “While she deserves thanks for her years of service, the party now needs new leadership that will open the doors of the party and welcome in working people and young people. The party leadership must also always remain impartial in the presidential nominating process, something which did not occur in the 2016 race.” 
 
 People around Wasserman Schultz didn’t know it was coming until Sunday morning in Philadelphia, when she finally had a meeting with senior Clinton campaign officials. 
 
 In fact, no one saw it coming: She had introduced Clinton and Kaine at their first joint rally in Miami roughly than 24 hours earlier, and even that was just after she’d spent a week as Democrats' most prominent surrogate at the Republican convention, popping up at event after event in Cleveland. 
 
 But the writing had been on the wall ever since the WikiLeaks email dump — the source of the only disruption at Clinton and Kaine’s entire rally, when a protester carrying a #DNCLEAKS banner heckled the presumptive nominee the second she thanked Wasserman Schultz. 
 
 All weekend, senior Clinton staffers and members of the Sanders brain trust were huddling in Philadelphia. Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver and strategist Mark Longabaugh were in touch with Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook, senior adviser Charlie Baker and lawyer Marc Elias on Friday night and Saturday during the rules committee proceedings. The WikiLeaks emails kept popping up as a topic of conversation, and while the Sanders aides didn’t demand Wasserman Schultz’s ouster, they made their preference — that she exit as soon as possible — known. 
 
 Wasserman Schultz, meanwhile, was largely going dark except for her Clinton/Kaine appearance. Her public events kept coming off her calendar through the weekend, including a scheduled appearance on “Fox News Sunday.” And when Baker didn’t show up at a credentials committee meeting Sunday morning, staffers immediately suspected something was coming. 
 
 It was a striking and telling shift to the DNC staffers monitoring her movements: They had just been laughing about how overexposed she’d been last week, showing up everywhere in Cleveland. 
 
 But they knew for sure that something was up with the chairwoman — who they had, for months, been sure was going to be showered in Ted Cruz-like boos at the convention — when their 2 p.m. senior staff meeting in Philadelphia on Sunday was abruptly canceled. 
 
 “This was the right move. She doesn’t deserve every attack that’s been thrown at her, but her faults have become too big a distraction and she hasn’t deftly managed the internal politics involved in managing a national committee,” said a DNC staffer. “The DNC should be playing a consequential role in the general election and that hasn't been possible as long as she’s been in charge.” 
 
 All the while, state party chairs had been emailing each other in semi-panic, receiving no response from national committee staff as speculation about a move heated up throughout the weekend. The same held true for party fundraisers, even those at a DNC retreat in town on Sunday, who were blindsided by the party’s split-second reorganization. 
 
 TTeam Sanders got no warning either, but they were immediately cheered by the installation of Brazile. Back in May — the last time speculation swirled about Wasserman Schultz's exit — they had been fans of Brazile's, even as Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid floated Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin for the job. 
 
 Inside the White House, aides and lawyers have been poring through the Wikileaks dump all weekend. There’s a lot of flagging of potential problems, but also a lot of eyerolling and disbelief about what Wasserman Schultz and her staff were thinking, and that they were putting it in emails. 
 
 Still, Obama didn’t get involved at all as Wasserman Schultz was at the brink. Whenever the topic of replacing her came up, despite the fact that the president had lost patience with her years ago and generally avoided having to talk to her, he’d always felt that forcing her out wasn't worth the trouble it would bring. 
 
 As the election got underway, he felt the leadership questions should be left to Clinton. And this weekend, as conversations between her Brooklyn headquarters and Wasserman Schultz intensified, neither the president nor his staff was involved. Once the decision was made, Wasserman Schultz called White House political director David Simas to tell him, and Simas then told the president. Obama decided to call to thank her for her work. The conversation was full of platitudes, a source familiar with the discussion said. He didn't go out of his way to say he was sorry to see her go, and certainly didn’t twist her arm to get her to reconsider. 
 
 Shortly before 4 p.m. ET, as word of the impending shakeup began leaking out, the DNC press shop put out its official announcement: Wasserman Schultz would step down. Obama’s statement, thanking her and describing her as a “dear friend,” landed around 20 minutes later, as did Clinton’s naming her the honorary chair of her campaign’s “50-state program.” 
 
 “We all knew this was coming yesterday after the WikiLeaks news, it felt like it had to happen. It was just a question of the timing, to be honest,” said one state party chair. “A lot of us thought this was going to happen a month ago. That would've been a more opportune time to do it. ... You won’t find a lot of fans of hers among state chairs, but this is shitty timing.” 
 
 Annie Karni contributed to this report.
– The Man From Hope, Bill Clinton, returns to the spotlight of the Democratic National Convention on its second night—and that worries some people. "There's the possibility of Clinton outshining Obama," one presidential historian tells Bloomberg. "But that's a minor fear." Clinton and Obama have famously crossed swords, but the campaign sees him as a powerful voice who can liken Obama's experience to his own. Here's what else you need to know tonight: Rumors have been swirling that the Obama team demanded to vet Clinton's speech, rumors it played down yesterday. "We have had lots of conversations with President Clinton," Jim Messina said, according to Politico. "This is a mountain out of a molehill." But Obama aides say someone is likely to see it. Clinton will be introduced by Elizabeth Warren, who's locked in possibly the nation's most competitive Senate race against Scott Brown. "I'm going to talk about what I've talked about for years now," Warren told ABC last month. "America's middle class is getting hammered and Washington is rigged to work for the big guy." It's worth noting that Brown didn't speak at the RNC. Warren won't be the only woman, either; Democrats intend to showcase many, USA Today reports, including Sandra Fluke, whom you might remember from her run-in with Rush Limbaugh. A number of CEOs are also on the docket, ready to affirm that an Obama presidency would indeed be good for business, the AP reports. Tonight will also mark Obama's official nomination. Since he ran essentially unopposed in the primary, this will simply be a roll-call of all the states, scheduled for after Clinton's speech. Obama himself is set to arrive in Charlotte today, meaning he could make a "surprise" appearance on stage with Bill Clinton, USA Today speculates.