Mark Warner, the former Virginia governor, used his keynote address at the Democratic convention on Tuesday to portray Senator Barack Obama as the man best equipped to lead the US into a globally-competitive, high-tech future while deriding his Republican opponent as a man “stuck in the past.”

Mr Warner was once considered a potential challenger for the 2008 nomination. His casting as keynote speaker is a reminder of the importance the party is attaching to Virginia, and their hopes that a centrist pitch will help to win over a state with large numbers of rural and religious voters.