DNC has bigger focus on Indiana

DENVER – Bob Pastrick, one of 85 Indiana delegates here, is no stranger to conventions. After all, he’s been going to them for almost 50 years.

Pastrick, 80, and thousands of other Democrats descended on Denver on Monday for the start of the Democratic National Convention, the first of two week-long gatherings of the nation’s major political parties. His first was in 1960.

“I’ve been a delegate for a hundred years,” joked Pastrick, who was mayor of East Chicago for 33 years until voted out of office in a special election, having been linked with a voter fraud scandal that forced out three top aides and three city councilmen.

“But this one is special. It’s the most important election we’ve had since, well, a long time.”

Pastrick is just one of 85 Indiana delegates and nearly 4,500 more from across the nation who will attend the convention this week. They will hear a variety of speakers each day, culminating with Democratic nominee Barack Obama on Thursday.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean opened the convention Monday afternoon, saying it is important for Americans to, as Obama’s slogan says, “Vote for change.”

“America realizes we cannot have four more years of the same, ineffective approach to governing,” Dean said.

Pastrick said this year’s election has a special significance for the state of Indiana, given the large voter turnout in the April primaries, the effort the Democrats are making to win the state in November and national prominence of the former Indiana governor, Sen. Evan Bayh, who was a finalist in Obama’s search for a vice presidential candidate. Obama even campaigned twice in Bloomington last spring, appearing at the women’s Little 500 bicycle race and at a speech in Assembly Hall.

“We’ve had a major contender for Obama’s number two spot, and I think the state of Indiana has a lot of problems – problems that can only be solved with new leadership,” Pastrick said.

Obama came into the convention with Democrats worried that his early advantages were giving way under an aggressive effort by Republicans to raise questions about his experience and background. Obama is counting on rallying new voters on his behalf and is especially focused on college students and other young people.

While political parties in the United States used to use conventions as a method for selecting a nominee, the meetings now serve as a media platform for each party. With a star-studded lineup of speakers, including former President Bill Clinton, vice-presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., and Obama’s wife Michelle, among others, this week’s convention all but guarantees the Democrats a week of front-page news, television clips and analysis.

But as much attention as the media gives to Democrats this week, the focus will shift quickly when the Republican National Convention kicks off next week in Minneapolis. Because incumbent parties generally schedule their conventions after the challenging party’s, Republicans will be in a position to spend a week responding to every word said in Denver. But Democrats are throwing barbs of their own, and unlike the 2004 Boston convention, where speakers were encouraged not to attack President Bush, Denver speakers have been encouraged to take a more ruthless approach.

“Republicans say John McCain has experience,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “We say John McCain has the experience of being wrong. On the failed Bush policies that have weakened our economy and taken us from the Clinton surplus to reckless Bush deficits and on raising the minimum wage for millions of American workers, Barack Obama is right and John McCain is wrong.”


IDS reporter Peter Stevenson will blog daily from the DNC this week on the Politiker.