Tim Walz at the DNC: This was a political speed date for a man with limited time to show what he stands for

Tim Walz is the quiz question you might struggle with in 10 years.  

He carries the anonymity of the number two and, as the running mate who ran from nowhere, even more so.

This was a political speed date for the man with limited time to build a profile – in prime time, an opportunity to cement himself in the consciousness of the voting public.

America has a fondness for, and trust in, its football coaches.

As it happened: Day three of the Democratic National Convention

Hence the Walz stage introduction that involved members of his Mankato West High School football team. It was the essence of small-town Nebraska his party managers want to promote: ordinary man, ordinary surroundings, knowledge of ordinary people.

The video tributes from former colleagues in the National Guard highlighted his military service and offered rebuttal to Republican criticism that he misrepresented it.

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Walz’s challenge isn’t just to establish who he is but also what he stands for, to lay out his credentials and capacity for serious politics. In his effort to do so, he offered a retrospective on his governorship of Minnesota.

He spoke about reproductive rights and invoked his personal story of fertility treatment that enabled the birth of his daughter.

Expect more of that on the campaign trail to come – the personal take on an issue at the heart of the Democrats election strategy, even if it might not always trigger what was probably the TV moment of the speech – his son Gus, in tears and pointing to the stage, shouting: “That’s my dad!”

It was a son’s certainty inside the United Center – what dad does next is the doubt.