Put the Academy Awards and the first day of the Democratic convention side by side and it would be hard to distinguish which was politics and which was showbiz. From Ted Kennedy’s moving convention finale to the schmaltzy two-way between Barack Obama, who was speaking from a living room in Kansas to his family on the podium in Denver, the first of four prime-time Democratic infomercials was choreographed to perfection.

For some, particularly non-American viewers, that final touch may have been just a tad too perfect. But through the glitz and the Michael Jackson stage emerged a serious undertone that will be repeated endlessly throughout the week: Barack Obama comes from working class roots and he empathises with blue-collar America. Whether in his selection of working class Joe Biden as his running mate or in the centrist Democratic line-up of speakers throughout the week, the Obama campaign is signalling that it understands which demographic deficit it most urgently needs to eliminate.