Greetings from Leesburg Pike in Virginia where the Democratic National Committee is gathered for the last major Presidential superdelegates forum before the election. All the delegates here will be headed west to Denver, CO to cast our votes for President at the convention. So far, there is no overwhelming favorite f- the race is very tight and very fluid. in the new era of asymmetrical politics where the Internet has injected new vitality and urgency to longstanding party principles, there are no coronations: everyone will have to compete on the ground and online for every vote, and for the second-place votes of people committed to others. A swing of a few thousands votes could change history. Here among the grassroots party leaders from across the USA, there is a sense that many of the candidates could win and that any of the candidates would make a great president.
To open the meeting DNC Chair Governor Howard Dean praised the grassrots efforts that won back the House and Senate in 2006, noting that it was here in Virginia that Jim Webb won the Senate seat that tipped the balance of power, and where the Democrats regained the state senate 3 weeks ago. He focused on cleaning up the culture of corruption, praised the "pay as you go" fiscal discipline because "you just can't trust Republicans with your money" and highlighted the emergence of young voters (under 30) turning to Democrats in 2004 and 2006. The meta message, he said, is that young people see our party and we look like them, not a scene out of the 1950s. In my book Campaign Boot Camp, I cite research that a person who votes Democratic or Republican for 3 consecutive elections tends to vote that way disproportionately over the rest of her life. With young voters, 2004 was the first, 2006 was the second, and 2008 is the year when Democrats will try to deal the deal and Republicans will try to break the pattern.
Bill Richardson highlighted jobs, education, cutting taxes, promoting clean energy and respectign workers as Governor of New Mexico. He railed against No Child Left Behind, and spoke of his Catholic faith imbued by his mother. He said we should remove all troops from Iraq - if we leave non-combat troops in Iraq the Iraqis won't think the war is over ... the American people will not think the war is over.
Stressing that "we cannot be the world's policeman; we must be the world's conscience" he said we need to get our troops out of Iraq and give diplomacy a chance. With the money spent in Iraq whe should give health care and education and jobs a chance. As President, "I will challenge Americans to sacrific for the common good." He concluded with the oft-told story of the FDR funeral procession and the mourner who said "I didn't know President Roosevelt - but he knew me." That, concluded Richardson, is the kind of America we want.
John Edwards said America needs a fighter because there is a wall in Washington that we must tear down. The wall was built by special interests like Big Oil and insurance companies and CEOs to get tax breaks for themselves while hardworking people go without decent heatch care; while jobs are going to other places not to your hometown. It's a rigged system and people pay the price. Bush and Cheney are dug on Iraq; we need to end the war in Iraq in a year. We need to ask Americans to be patriotic about something other than war. Naming real people whose lives are affected by the economy , Katrina, and the war, Edwards chellenged people to fight Republicans and Democrats who built the wall. Backbone, courage and strength to bring that wall down. This will be the fight of our lives. This is more than celebritypolitics or who's up and who's down but a simple profound test: can this generation leave a better country than we were given? To build one America, stand up for the Constitution, for civil liberties, civil rights, the right to choose, the right to privacy, vote with us. To vote for CEOs vote for them; to vote for union workers who built the middle class, vote for us. Stand with us and tear down this wall!
Barak Obama said that in a year, the era of Scooter Libby justice and Brownie incompetence and Karl Rove politics will finally be over. What's next? We are at a defining moment: our nation is at war and our planet is in peril., and the dreams that so many have struggled for for so long feel like they're slipping away ... and we have lost faith in our leaders to do something about it. ...The only mission accomplished was to use fear take this country into a war that should never have been authorized and never been waged. Obama said we have the opportunity to "bring the country together in a new majority ... to solve the problems that were there before George Bush .. no more textbook campaigns: polling and triangulating just won't do!" "If we want to win, Democrats, we cannot live in fear of losing it." We must instead "summon America to a commpn purpose." When I am your nominee, you won't have someone who voted for the war or gave the President the benefit of the doubt on Iran or followed the Bush-CHeney policies of not talking to leaders we don't like or wavered on whether it's OK for Americans to torture - it's never ok. I will bring the troops home from Iraq in 16 months ... and fight poverty and genoide and disease. Rather than fight the fights of the 1990s, and have the same old map, I believe I can transform that (electoral) map. I have attracted more Republicans and Independets to our cause than any other candidate in this race. We need a governing majority to deliver on our promises. I am not running to fulfill a long-standing ambilition ... I am running on what Dr. Martin Luther King called the "fierce urgency of now." I am running to give others the same opportunity that others gave me. Stop stettling for what the cynics say you should accept - vote for what you know is possible.
Nancy Pelosi (hi mom) is introduced with a video about the first woman Speaker. "We have changed the leverage in Washington DC" she says: "no longer do we have Republican rubber stamps serving the special interests - we have a New Direction Democratic Congress serving the people's interest." We passed the largest ethics reform law in US history, restored fiscal discipline - we pay as we go - and are restoring the American Dream. We pledged to make America safer, fairer and healtheir, and ew have begun. To make America safer, we passed the bipartisan 9/11 Commission reforms, a plan to bring our troops home by December 2008, and kept our promises to our veterans with the biggest increase in veterans benefits in the 77-year history of the Veterans Administration. To make our economy fairer, we passed the competitiveness agenda to keep America number one and invest in good-paying jobs here at home, passed an increase in the minimium wage, passed card check - the Employee Free Choice Act - and collective bargaining rights for law enforcement personnel. For the familie of Katrinaand Rita nad for the conscience of our country, we passed hurrican relief wih Davis-Bacon prevailing wage provisions. To make America healthier, we passed health care for our children. 40 days in Iraq or 10 million American children: the President says we cannot afford to - we cannot afford not to. In 1997 one governor supported SCHIP - then Vermont governor now DNC chair Howard Dean. On the eveof World AIDS Day, praise for people who are working to find a cure. We will bring an energfy security bill to the floor that will reverse global climate change, and we need your help for a large vote so the President will sign it. We have more to do - for the Americans concerned about the strength f the dollar, about homeownership, about product safety - and we need your help to do so. Together, unified, we can build on the progress we have made. As members of the DNC, as leaders of youe state parties, you have a huge responsibility to unite behid our nominees. Our success depends on you. On ward to a great Democratic victory!
NOTE: Chairman Dean announced that due to the pending hostage crisis at a Clinton New Hampshire campaign office, Senatror Clinton will not address the meeting. (A brief web surf indicates that a man walked into a HQ and claimed he was wearing a bomb). Godspeed.
Bill Ritter spoke about his pride as Colorado's new Governor and as host to the Democratic Convention which will be the greenest since the invention of the lightbulb. From the weWest we have lessons that can be learned because we have senators and governors who inherited seats from Republicans. We won because we believe we are a great country that should view the potential of all our people. I am giving the national radio response to the president tomorrow, and I talk about how we have to build on the potential of our people. This makes a difference on issues - not siloed but united in one notion, that this is a wonderful country, with a wonderful promise, and we have a vision to move our country there together. In Denver we will talk about moving America forward together. Coming out of Denver we will link arms, unite behind our nominee, and will spoeak with one voice.
Dennis Kucinich called for a Rooseveltian-like WPA for the country, a full service economy, cancelling NAFTA, and protecting workders. He said he went to a prayer breakfast this morning "to dispel any talk that I don't have a prayer" and said with his support in the polls growing the conversation is changing asthe debate moves to health care and jobs for all. He said that waiting to impeach after the US bombed Iran would be too late - he is drawing up articles of impreachment against President Bush now. The Clinton hostage situation is sad - some people don't see an alternative to violence. But we can break from violence. We can move to a country of non-violence. We are ready but we get enveloped in fear that things will not change. But we will lift up America.
Joe Biden said it's an unusual day - hearts to Hillary Clinton's staff. Next President will have an awesome responsibility to shape our country If we don't get the exit from Iraq right, our childrena nd grandchildren will e fighting there for generations to come. If we don't get health care right, it will be harder later. If we don't get it right on torture, we wil sacrifice our soul. With experience and fights, Biden is confident he can take on the Republicans and lead the country. When you fly over the country, you see dots of lights on in people's houses. People wonder Dad died- should Mom live with us? Is ist sae for our kids to go on the Internet" What's with our company's health plan? They used to vote for us - not now because we forgot to talk to their hearts and not just their heads. Like my Dad said, I don't expect government to solve my problems but I do expect government to understand my problems. We have to remind average Americans we understand their problems. With some of the same enthusiasm for service chastened by every mistake, made confident by every success, I beiieve we can reshape America.
As mentioned, Senator Clinton did not speak (she was scheduled to close the session) because she is en route to New Hampshire. Our thoughts and prayers are with the workers, the first responders, and their families.