Former U.S. president Bill Clinton has formally placed President Barack Obama's name up for the Democratic nomination during a nationally televised address Wednesday.
Mr. Clinton fired at the Republican party during his prime time speech at the Democratic National Convention, calling the Republican narrative an “alternative universe.”
“In Tampa the Republican argument against the President's re-election was actually pretty simple, pretty snappy. It went something like this: We left him a total mess, he hasn't finished cleaning it up fast enough, so fire him and put us back in.”
Mr. Clinton remains a popular figure among many Americans who recall the economic prosperity during his two terms in office in the 1990s.
The DNC aimed to strike at Mr. Romney's record as a businessman, which Mr. Clinton called “sterling” earlier this year.
Among the speakers Wednesday were three employees that were fired from companies controled by Bain Capital, an asset management firm that Mr. Romney co-founded and ran as CEO for several years. One of the employees said America cannot afford “Romney economics,” which he said was “putting profits before working people.”
U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in Charlotte, North Carolina earlier Wednesday for his party's national convention.
Hours earlier, party officials looked at Thursday's weather forecast and decided to move his night-time nomination acceptance address from an outdoor football stadium because of concerns about rain. The president will instead speak in the much smaller, 20,000-seat indoor arena where the remainder of the convention is being staged.
Democratic officials said they feared the possibility of rainstorms during the speech. Mr. Obama's Republican opponents said the real worry for his supporters was that the president might not attract enough people to fill the 74,000-seat stadium.
In a statement, convention organizer Steve Kerrigan said the group shared the “disappointment of over 65,000 people” who had signed up for credentials to attend the outdoor event. He said Mr. Obama would speak to them during a Thursday conference call.
Mr. Obama's opponent in the November 6 election is Republican Mitt Romney, a one-time venture capitalist and former governor of Massachusetts. Surveys of voters show the two candidates in a virtual tie nine weeks ahead of election day.
