Jubilant Democrats embrace Tim Walz and now await Kamala Harris' biggest moment

'We'll sleep when we're dead': Tim Walz made a fiery speech at the Democratic convention, followed by Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton

The Democrats haven't explained their policies. They haven't let their presidential candidate anywhere near a tough interviewer.

But they sure know how to unite a party and spark wild enthusiasm among the faithful.

Overnight, it was Tim Walz, the Democratic party's vice presidential nominee, who stole the show.

He's a former school football coach.

Gus Walz cries as his father and Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks during his party convention.

So - not missing a trick - the convention organisers brought a dozen players from his old football team onto the stage.

You can't get more heartland American than that.

Then Walz delivered the speech of a Midwesterner, a former National Guardsman, a hunter, a family man, and a former high school teacher.

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He compared the moment to a mid-game pep talk, declaring, "It’s the fourth quarter. We’re down a field goal. But we’re on offense and we’ve got the ball. We’re driving down the field. And boy, do we have the right team."

He warned, above all, against complacency, saying that this would be a tight election in which every voter counted.

"Look, we’ve got 76 days," he pleaded to the convention. "That’s nothing. There’ll be time to sleep when you’re dead. We’re going to leave it on the field. That’s how we’ll keep moving forward. That’s how we’ll turn the page on Donald Trump."

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It was an impressive speech that left the party jubilant. It's a million miles away from how Democrats felt when Joe Biden was at the top of the ticket.

And now there is one key moment left. The most important of all. Later tonight, Kamala Harris herself will take to the stage and accept the party's presidential nomination.

She must persuade undecided American voters in seven swing states that she has the character and the values to be president. On that, everything rides.

Then, from the moment she wraps up that speech tonight, it's an eleven week sprint to election day.

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