Democrats in Chicago: Leaving on a Jet Plane

I'm sitting at Chicago O'Hare International Airport with some other DNC staffers. Everyone is exhausted, but happy. The meeting was very successful - Democrats from across the country came together to share ideas, get training and take care of the official business of the Democratic Party.

I'll have a longer play-by-play later to talk about the details of the General Session, but the biggest thing to come out of this meeting is the historic change to the primary calendar. While still preserving the first in the nation status of the Iowa Caucuses and New Hampshire Primary, the DNC has opened the primary process up to two additional states, Nevada and South Carolina.

Opening up the process will better reflect the rich diversity of our Party. In addition to adding regional diversity to the process, we've opened up the dialogue to engage a broader range of people who will talk about a wider variety of issues. This will enable the Democratic Party to choose the strongest candidate to be our Presidential nominee.

In addition to the official business, Governor Dean fired up the crowd. Washington State Congressional Candidate Darcy Burner talked about the importance of taking back the House. Jennifer Bruner, Ohio's nominee for Secretary of State talked about voter protection and Democrats were welcomed to the state by the Mayor of Chicago and the Governor of Illinois.

It was an amazing experience. I hope that you caught some of it on C-Span. If you didn't don't worry - we'll have pictures and video soon enough.

For now, I'm going to join my fellow staffers for a much needed food break and I'll have more when we land in D.C.

Comments (6) «

Will someone please put up a transcript of Governor Dean's speech. I saw a link to Jesse Jackson's great speech already.

That was a powerful speech by Dean and it needs to be read as well.

1

sunny on August 19, 2006 at 06:59 PM

I agree with Sunny! The money I send to the DNC I send because I trust Howard Dean. He also happens to be the best speaker the Democratic Party has. He looks great on the Sunday shows especially opposite that robot Mehlman. There should always be links to Dean transcripts and Dean videos.

Sunny, always check the "Howard Empowered People" blog, too. It's a friendly blog and has the best list of Dean transcripts I've found.

2

Shelley on August 19, 2006 at 08:01 PM

Yeah, I'll add my vote to that. The DNC coverage will be replayed again at 2am tonight (early tomorrow). Here's the C-SPAN sched:
http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/schedule.csp

3

Red_County_Rosi on August 19, 2006 at 10:16 PM

Iran's President Urges Britons to Evict Tony Blair's Government
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060820/ap_on_re_mi_ea/britain_iran
LONDON - Britain's close alliance with the United States is damaging its standing in the Muslim world, Iran's president said in an interview published Saturday.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged Britons to evict Prime Minister Tony Blair's government from office, saying Blair's support for Washington's foreign policy could force Britain into future Mideast conflicts, The Guardian newspaper reported.

4

Roxie on August 19, 2006 at 10:17 PM

Sure hope there were no Snakes on the Plane, Tracy.

5

PeppermintLizzy on August 20, 2006 at 08:00 AM

Chicago in August can be uncomfortable. Glad everything went well... so can you help the Cubs?

6

NotSoldonPelosi on August 21, 2006 at 12:41 AM

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