Hi, I'm blogging from press row at the California Democratic Party convention. There are over 2,000 activists here, including the largest collection of uncommitted superdelegates outside the US Capitol. We've been covering it on Calitics all weekend, and in a matter of moments, Bill Clinton will address the convention. Earlier, San Francisco DA Kamala Harris spoke on behalf of Sen. Obama, and was very well-received. I honestly don't know how Clinton will be, although Hillary won California pretty handily and she has a great deal of support here.
I'm going to liveblog the speech here, and anyone in the hall that wants to jump in can do so.
For updates on the rest of the convention, visit Calitics.
...I should say that this is probably the third most important fight happening in the room this weekend. There are some endorsement battles for the June primary that are swamping the Obama-Clinton fight. In fact, unity has been the theme here, and there's a FAR bigger split over various state Senate and state Assembly candidates than this Presidential election. I will say that I've been focusing on talking to as many challengers and elected officials as possible. And I get two almost contradictory opinions. The presidential primary is great because it brings new energy and attention to the party and new voters into the process; and yet at the same time, the downballot candidates find it difficult to raise money, secure staff and get attention, because it's all being forced upwards. This is particularly a problem in California, where we think we run the country, sad to say, and where we get hung up on national issues. We have to come back home and take advantage of these opportunities we have at the local level.
And we DO have opportunities in California in the Congress. More on that later.
...There's a live webcast of the event.
...Unity is really the overriding theme from the lecturn, and calls for an end to the attacks between the rival campaigns. If Clinton goes in any way negative he's going to be roundly booed.
...There's a little video going on now with highlights from the convention, including speeches from SF Mayor Gavin Newsom and Speaker emeritus Willie Brown.
...The secretary of the party, Reginald Jones-Sawyer, is up now, getting off some good lines on McCain ("he wants 100 years of war... well, he was around at the time of the 100 Year's War") and talking about the need for a Democrat in the governor's mansion. That's going to be a free-for-all, by the way. The 2010 race could feature 6-8 candidates on the Democratic side.
...OK, Bill Clinton is being introduced right now. There's a lot of Hillary visibility in the room and everyone is on their feet. Remember, Clinton won California by 8 points, and the party establishment here adores Bill Clinton.
...President Clinton enters to a standing ovation. He thanks the party chair Art Torres, calling California "the key to America's future."
..."I want to get something out of the way. This has been an utterly amazing election year... we've had unprecedented numbers of people participating... you really didn't have to be against anybody in this election year... there's a reason there's been all this energy... the American people know that the country has to change... we have to restore America's leadership... therefore they have lifted the stakes and energy in this process... there is somehow a suggestion that we're going to weaken this party in the fall.... I didn't win the Democratic primary until June 2, 1992... I was running third in the national opinion polls, and Ross Perot was running first. Six weeks later Al Gore and I were in first place and we never lost it. The fact that we had a vigorous debate in the Democratic primary turned out to be a blessing in disguise."
..."Chill out, we're going to win this election (we meaning Democrats), let's let everyone have their say. I don't know any Democrat who believes that we should continue the current Iraq policy and economic policy. WE want to change the future of this country."
..."Hillary said that if she were elected, she would have someone in the White House to pay attention to concerns in the West, including the interior Mountain West"... now he's ripping on Bush a little. California was better off in the Clinton Administration because we had a Californian organizing things in the White House, unlike Bush. "We have to campaign as a party by running in every state and being a national party. That is Hillary's commitment." Really?
..."More than 1 million of our citizens are facing mortgage foreclosures and a lot of them have never missed a payment... not a single one of these people were told that the mortgage companies were going to turn their mortgages into stock and bid them up or down... Compton, California had the highest rate of foreclosures last year... people only ask 'Can I make the monthly payment.' You should all care about this if you're not a homeowner, because every foreclosure costs Americans money. If we foreclose on a million citizens at a quarter of a million dollars apiece, we're going to be swamped. We need a moratorium, a five-year freeze on foreclosures."
..."If this country can stop Bear Stearns from failure, we can stop a million people from losing their homes... we have learned in this Administration that trickle-down economics is a failure. Most Americans think they're in a recession, and they ARE, but the country isn't in a technical sense. The PEOPLE have had negative economic growth but the businesses haven't." This is a very good policy speech.
..."90% of the benefits of this economic age have gone to the top 10%. We want a country of shared opportunities and shared prosperity. They threw tax cuts at millionaires... like me. When we moved into the White House, we were the poorest family ever to move in. When we got out, I was fortunate and made a lot of money, mostly because you bought my books. All of a sudden, Republicans loved me and gave me tax cuts. It was wrong."
..."I support Hillary because I think she has the best plan to save our economy and support the country for the future. A lot of people look at me during these speeches and think 'He has to say that or he wouldn't be able to go home at night.' And that's probably true. But knowing what I know in my travels and work around the world, I would be here now if we hadn't been married because she's the best candidate I've supported in 40 years." I think her policies will offer more prosperity than my Administration did.
"We have to create more jobs. And the only way to do that in the 21st century is to make a serious commitment to green energy... we need a President who understands that wind and solar energy can electrify America."
"We need to move right away to a 100mpg vehicle." Mentions the X Prize. "We need to take the research arm out of politics and make sure we're funding the research we need. If we can beat the world to the moon, we should be able to beat the world to a car battery."
"There is a reason the American Nurses Association endorsed Hillary, because there is only one plan that fully covers everybody. This is the only wealthy country in the world with the uninsured. We have big corporations joining with labor unions for universal health care." Talks about health care administration and paperwork, recission, pre-existing conditions. Explains Hillary's health care plan. Health care companies spend millions to stop insuring people, and we will make that illegal.
There's a little bit of shouting going on from parts of the room. But it's very localized.
Now talking about changing NCLB, which is well-received in the room. Now he adds about Pell Grants and student loan reform.
NOTHING about foreign policy so far. Ticking off the boxes. Transactional politics. It's pretty wonkish and there aren't a whole lot of applause lines. I think it's well received but the crowd is tuning out just a bit.
... Here we go, "I strongly believe that Hillary will be the strongest commander-in-chief and I'll tell you why. First she'll be the diplomat in chief. The world is mad about more than Iraq. We should be part of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban treaty and Kyoto and the Geneva Conventions. We should say "America is back in the cooperation and diplomacy business... military force only as a last resort... we have to begin immediately getting the troops home from Iraq and getting out of the current conflict... we owe it to the translators and the drivers to come to America, why the Bush Administration is against that is beyond me. She would leave a small special forces group where there is no fighting in case Al Qaeda gets out of hand. No permanent bases, but to stay there as a small stabilizing force." That's not acceptable to me.
"We have almost broken the American military. This is unsustainable, and we have done what we were hired to do. If we do what Sen. McCain says, and stay 100 years, then in 99 years we'll be waiting for the Iraqis to figure out how to split the oil money."
"There is a struggle going on in Afghanistan, and we never gave that country the resources they needed."
"We cannot confuse an unpopular war with the people who served in it and our obligation to them. We have 200,000 homeless vets on the streets. We need a GI Bill for the 21st century." Mentions John Murtha's support."
"I'm going to say one last thing." A Bronx cheer in the crowd. This is a long speech.
He wraps up with who's going to build the best future for America.
He closes with Hillary's advocacy for 9/11 rescue workers who breathed all that crap at Ground Zero. "We need as a President someone who knows what it's like to be ME." I'm surprised she never played this up more.