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 
 
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 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
– 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.