Keynote speaker announced: it's Mark Warner

Former Gov. Mark Warner of Virginia will deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, August 26.

Mark Warner is running for the U.S. Senate from Virginia for the seat that will be vacated now that Senator John Warner (R) is retiring. This Senate race and the prominence both of the retiring Senator and the Democratic hopeful have cast more than a little public light on Virginia, a battleground state in the national election.

It was the convention's keynote address in 2004 that made Senator Barack Obama's name a household word -- in Democratic households, at least.

There's also been speculation in the press that naming former Governor Warner to give the keynote speech in Denver is a signal from the Obama campaign that current Virginia Governor Tim Kaine will not be picked as Senator Obama's vice-presidential running mate.

Governor Warner has made regular stops in the Bay State a part of his campaign road show. He attended the Roosevelt Day dinner in Boston in June, and last Thursday he was the featured guest at the Obama campaign's New England Steering Committee's weekly meeting.