McDermott said he wants to change the direction of the conversation this morning. “Let me set the context for this election,” he said: In the 1930s, the country was in a Depression and Democrats stepped in with programs to help. He said that lead to loyalty to the party for decades, until people “started to forget.”

Republicans “know that if this healthcare bill gets into place … we will control and lead this country” for the next decade. McDermott said if Republicans win seats because of “health care, the Tea Party and all of that crazy business,” it could lead to the repeal of healthcare reform.

He said politics “has changed to the point where we think it’s all about money,” he said. This election will be no different, because of the Supreme Court decision on corporate political contributions. But: He said the Democratic party “can have an impact that is much stronger than a commercial” by hitting the streets and talking to people.

He said young people “put Obama over the top” in the 2008 presidential election. But, he said, young people get distracted “and they need to be reminded that what Barack Obama started in 2008 has got to be continued.”

He said in his first campaign, he doorbelled at the UW doorms the night before the election. He said he got kicked off of campus, but it was worth it because young voters are crucial to Democratic campaigns.

Tags: Democratic convention, Jim McDermott

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray just took the stage at the state Democratic convention, to the tune “Aint’ No Mountain High Enough.”

Introducing her: 11-year-old Seattle resident Marcelas Owens, who met Murray at a healthcare rally and told Murray about his mother’s death. “Talk about the kind of person” you’d want representing Washington, he said, “and you’d be talking about … my dear friend, Sen. Patty Murray.”

Murray said her friend Marcelas wanted to tell people — “even a United States Senator” — about his mother’s health struggles that ended in her death. Murray took that story back to D.C. and told it at committee hearings, on the floor and to Pres. Barack Obama. She said Marcelas was a hero.

“This is a crowd that wants this economic recovery” to keep going, she said. “This is a crowd that is mad as hell at Wall Street and wants to stand with me” as she ensures they’re held accountable. “This is a crowd that never wants to see an oil spill” like the one in the Gulf happen on the West Coast.

She said she stands up for Wshington in D.C. “Now there’s some folks in this race who are going to stand by and watch, who right out of the gate said they’re going to refuse” to stand up and fight, and would rather delegate that to “some beureaucrat 2,500 miles away.”

“I’m fighting for you because, unlike some others in this race, I haven’t forgotten and I haven’t supported the bad decisions from the Bush administration” that got the country “into this mess in the first place.” Murray said she voted against the war in Iraq and tax cuts for the rich. (more…)

Tags: Democratic convention, Patty Murray

Dwight Pelz, chairman of the state Democratic party, is now speaking to the convention. He said voters are “anxious, confused and the American people are looking for answers” in the wake of “eight years of benign neglect” by George W. Bush and his administration.

He said the top threat to American families in recent years has been skyrocketing healthcare costs. To that, Democrats passed healthcare legislation. “And Joe Biden was right: This was a darn big deal,” he said, to chuckles.

He said Republicans lied on TV and via advertising to “try to frighten” people about healthcare. He compared battle over healthcare between Democrats and Republicans to a “ten-hour tennis match” and the U.S.A. vs. Algeria World Cup game earlier this week. In the 91st minute, he said, Nancy Pelosi scored a goal with healthcare.

“Just imagine if John McCain had won that election,” Pelz said, to boos. McCain would have created enormous deficits via tax cuts for “wealthy friends.” He said that wouldn’t have worked because “you can’t jump start a dead battery.”

“Democrats create deficits for jobs and to rebuild our economy. To promote first time homebuyers and to provide unemployment benefits to workers,” so they can feed their families by shopping at local stores.

“Let’s go elect Patty Murray and elect Denny Heck and elect Susan DelBene,” he said.

Tags: Democratic convention, Dwight Pelz

U.S. Rep. Brian Baird is kicking off the convention this morning. He first called for a moment of silence to honor American troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He also took a moment to voice his support for Denny Heck. “This seat and the eighth district are going to be two of the biggest fights in the country,” he said. “And we have a chance to win both.”

On the subject of unemployment: “Everyday, people are waking up saying, am I going to lose my job?” He said Democrats can never forget that. “We should be the party that … builds jobs, that builds our society.”

He said U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, the “mom in tennis shoes,” is in “one of the most powerful positions” in the U.S. Senate. “And that is something to honor, not to denigrate.” He said Democrats are not about to let Murray lose her seat “because Patty Murray has got to continue as our senator.”

Baird asked whoever replaces him in office to help make sure members of Congress are given enough time to read legislation. “If you want it badly, you should want it enough to read it,” he said.

Tags: Baird, Democratic convention

Today’s Q&A is with Dwight Pelz, the chairman of the state Democratic Party. Pelz is headed to Vancouver tomorrow for the state Democratic convention, where delegates from around the state will gather to hear speeches, vote on the platform and more. TVW will cover the whole thing live (just like the Republican convention two weeks ago) online.

Here’s what Pelz had to say:

Q: What’s on the agenda for this weekend?

Pelz: Well, we have our banquet Friday night and our convention Saturday and Patty Murray will be featured at both of those and the Governor will be featured Friday night. The keynoter Friday is Ron Wyden. Then Saturday the keynoter is Tim Kaine. Then we have four Congressme: Baird, Dicks, McDermott and Inslee.

We’ll do the platform and resolutions on Saturday afternoon. We’ve had a platform committee that’s been working for two months to draft a document and we’ve had a ton of input on it. I expect it to be adopted.

Q: Are there any surprise issues or stances in there?

Pelz: I don’t think so. You know, it talks about supporting the president. It’s hard for me to sit here and remember the more telling points of it. We have the statement of values: We support a woman’s right to choose, gay marriage, immigration reform, the income tax initiative, and we oppose the workers’ comp reform initiative and support the president on healthcare. And the party’s split on Afghanistan. And there’s some things we agree with the administration on. It doesn’t have a lot of dissent – the Republican party was having a split with the Tea Party (in their platform).

Q: Will you endorse candidates at the convention?

Pelz: Because of the top two primary, the party has a nominations procedure in place that we didn’t have in place before the Top Two primary. Our opinion is that the voters prior would nominate through the primaries. But now the primaries are not party-specific. They’re a winnowing down primary, not a nominating primary. It’s just like city council, the primary serves to winnow down the field of candidates.

So now we do nominations. We have nominated 7 candidates for Congress and, at the convention, we plan to do 2 more. (more…)

Tags: Democratic convention, Dwight Pelz