When is the Democrat convention and what can we expect from Hillary Clinton? 

How does it work? 

In order to secure the nomination, a candidate has to receive a simple majority of delegate votes. In Philadelphia, the Democratic nominee will need to secure at least 2383 out of 4765 delegates. 

Voters do not actually directly choose the candidate for the presidency. Instead, their votes in the primaries and caucuses are a way of assigning delegates to their preferred candidate. The delegates from the 50 states then go to the Democratic National Convention to nominate the candidate for their party.

The majority of delegates are called pledged delegates. These are bound, by political tradition, to vote according to the results of the primary or caucus in their state. So for example, delegates from Iowa should vote for Hillary Clinton because she won the Iowa caucus (albeit narrowly). 

Is that it? 

Not quite. Some of the delegates in the Democratic nomination process are known as super delegates. These are not required to vote according to the outcome of a state's primary or caucus results. The super delegates are usually members of the party's elite. It allows party grandees to have a degree of control over who the masses choose as their nominee. There are 717 super delegates at the Philadelphia convention. 

What should we expect from Hillary Clinton?

In winning the nomination, as she is expected to do, Hillary Clinton will,  even before becoming president, achieve what every commander-in-chief frets and dreams of: she will carve out her place in history. She will become the  first women nominee for a major American political party.

Speeches of conventions past have made and broken the careers of  American presidential hopefuls. Barack Obama's 17 minute keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National convention transformed him from a little known senator of Illinois to a political star, opening the way for his bid for his presidencial bid four years later.

After a tough primary election race, in which Bernie Sanders, Mrs Clinton's rival fought to very last, Mrs Clinton will need to use her convention debut to try to unify Democrats. She will highlight her experience - having been first lady and secretary of state. But most importantly she will adopt policies favoured by Mr Sanders in the primary election race.

A key problem for Mrs Clinton is that, polls show, voters do not see her as trustworthy. Her public appearances are often overly rehearsed, making her appear disingenuous to some. In this speech, which will air to tens of millions of Americans live on prime time television, her campaign will no doubt try to counter that image. The choice of words will have been carefully scripted, bringing in enough mention of her family, and other personal touches to try to humanise her. 

What about a running mate?

Hillary Clinton has plumped for Tim Kaine, the 58 year old senator from Virginia, one of the key battleground states.

The left of the party hoped that Mrs Clinton would choose Elizabeth Warren, an outspoken, left wing, senator from Massachusetts who has been heavily critical of Wall Street.

There were fears that a Clinton-Warren ticket could backfire  being seen as weighted towards the American east coast.

Mr Kaine is a Harvard-educated lawyer, with a reputation for campaigning for social justice having represented death row inmates in Virginia. A deeply religions man, he driven by his Catholic faith.

The Virginia senator is seen as balancing the ticket not only geographically but politically, given his more cautious position on a number of issues including trade.

He  ticks a number of boxes. Apart from coming from a swing state, Mr Kaine  is a fluent Spanish speaker, which will be useful in winning the Hispanic vote.

Is Bernie Sanders out of the game?

Because the primary was so hard fought, with the battle to reach the delegate threshold stretching all the way to the final primary in California, Mr Sanders has acquired a huge amount of political capital. He is expending this by shaping the Democrats' policy platform and agenda for the next four years. 

How has Bernie Sanders changed the Democratic Party?

Although the platform will be voted on at the convention, it's pillars have already started to take shape. Because of Mr Sanders, Democrats have advanced the most liberal agenda seen in the party's history.

Mrs Clinton has had to incorporate a number of policies she had not previously campaigned for, in an effort to win over supporters of Mr Sanders. The Vermont senator has secured a number of wins in the drafting of Wall street reform, expansion of social security (welfare) and opposition in to the death penalty.  They have won a promise to include a "reasoned pathway for future legalization" of marijuana".

The Clinton campaign has  committed to raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Mrs Clinton has also announced that families with annual incomes under $125,000 will not have to pay university tuition fees (Mr Sanders had campaigned for free university tuition for all students).

The protests and the parties

Americans do not do things by half. Attending a national political convention is means attending a head-spinning, power infested, carnival. In addition to the delegates, thousands of political junkies are making the pilgrimage to Philadelphia to celebrate or protest the process.

Whilst delegates go head to head inside the convention centre, tens of thousands of people are planning to gather outside. A network of 30,000 Bernie Sanders are planning to oppose Mrs Clinton's nomination by holding mass protests. Dozens of other groups will join them. 

Meanwhile, a biker gang plans to hold a drive through, revving their Harley Davidsons, in celebration of the political process. 

There are hundreds of parties being held by a mesmerising myriad of organisations. Star appearances include Lady Gaga and Snoop Dogg. 

Pending legislation is being process that would allow some watering holes to keep serving way past the usual 2am closing time, so that the parties can keep rolling through the night.