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LA Mayor Garcetti, National Co-Chair For Biden Campaign, To Rally Dems At DNC

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA/AP) — Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti will be on the move at this week's virtual Democratic National Convention.

Garcetti — who is the national co-chair for the Biden/Harris campaign — will take part in 30 events along with a series of media appearances once the convention opens Monday night with a speech by former First Lady Michelle Obama.

Acknowledging this DNC will be unlike any other, Garcetti said "it's going to be better by taking us off the convention floor and into America's main streets and people's real lives".

In the prerecorded speech, Obama said Joe Biden was a "profoundly decent man" who would "tell the truth and trust science," drawing a sharp contrast between President Donald Trump and her husband's two-term vice president.

"He knows what it takes to rescue an economy, beat back a pandemic and lead our country," Mrs. Obama said. "He will make smart plans and manage a good team, and he will govern as someone who's lived a life that the rest of us can recognize."

Republican Donald Trump succeeded Democrat Obama in 2017 and promptly set out to undo many of Obama's achievements on health care, the environment and foreign policy, among others. Trump also routinely criticized Obama's job performance.

Mayor Eric Garcetti Joins Joe Biden At Los Angeles Campaign Event
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 10: Democratic presidential candidate former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (R) walks with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (L) at a campaign event at United Firefighters of Los Angeles City on January 10, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. Garcetti endorsed Biden yesterday. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

On Monday, Trump took a dig at the former first lady's speech, noting that her remarks were prerecorded and that his own speech at the Republican National Convention next week would be live.

"Who wants to listen to Michelle Obama do a taped speech?" he said at a rally in Wisconsin.

Biden's sense of empathy was also a focus of Obama's speech.

Tragedy has followed Biden, from the deaths of his first wife and baby daughter after he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972, to the death of his son Beau from brain cancer in 2015.

Obama, who is leading an effort to help register people to vote, also spoke about the importance of voting in the Nov. 3 election, which will take place amid a coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 170,000 Americans and infected more than 5 million in the U.S.

(Copyright 2020 CBS Corp. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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