Democrats rallied behind candidates and top policy issues at their weekend convention in Clark County.  How many democrats?  700.  Compare that to the Republican convention two weeks earlier, when there were 1,200 delegates.  Rep. Sam Hunt, chair of the House Democratic Campaign Committee, joins me on set to talk about the party’s plan for energizing their voters in the face of a surging Republican party. Plus, the party’s plans for keeping Sen. Patty Murray in office.

In our final segment, you’ll meet the mother of “Fathead.”  Yes, she calls him that name too.  He’s a suspected  gang member in Auburn – the type of person that community corrections officers (CCO) are working to identify and track better.  We ride along with a CCO, as she visits offenders under supervision and looks for signs of gang activity.  During our first stop, we go inside Fathead’s house and talk with his mother about what he’s doing to stay out of trouble.  We also learn about how the Department of Corrections is streamlining a system for preventing gang violence.

You can catch The Impact Thursday nights at 7 p.m. & 10 p.m. on TVW and on Friday nights at 7 p.m. on KBTC.

Tags: Democratic convention, gang violence, The Impact

Amidst debate over amendments and deletions, a delegate at the Democratic convention moved to vote on the package as it stands.

The platform passed. Now, the move to resolutions.

Some delegates, however, were upset with the vote. One delegate said it was a “railroad job” that wasn’t worthy of his respect. Another delegate, in response, said the platform committee has been working on the issue for months, during which time she made comments on the process. “If you want to work, work early,” she said.

The convention delegates are working through all the resolutions, which isn’t a process that’s well suited for blog description. For the full, live convention coverage, go here.

Tags: Democratic convention, platform

Now up: Clyde Cordero, who’s running for Congress in the fifth district. He said he was disappointed at the lack of Democratic candidates in the race, then decided to run.

“I’m the grandson of agricultural workers and, in the tradition of the American dream, I was the first member of my family to graduate from college,” he said.

Cordero said his father was injured in combat, earning the Purple Heart. Cordero also served, working as an intelligence analyst.

“I’m running for Congress because the current Republican member … is out of touch,” he said. He said Cathy McMorris Rodgers is more concerned with playing politics than representing her district.

He said he offers voters a better choice.

Tags: Clyde Cordero, Democratic convention

Jay Clough, running for Doc Hasting’s seat: “This has been, and will continue to be, a difficult challenge,” he said. “But I firmly believe that this is a battle worth waging, and this is an election that can be won.”

“You can distill the entire platform of our Democratic party into those three simple words: Do what’s right.” He said Democrats stand up for what’s right, demanding universal access to affordable healthcare, education, public safety and more “because it is the right thing to do.”

He said he wants to bring sustainable energy to Central Washington, which would bring union jobs, he said. “I want to expand broadband communication services” to rural areas, he said, “because it is the right thing to do.”

He said the right thing isn’t always the easy thing. “Americans don’t shy from difficult challenges — we never have,” he said. “Make no mistake that the 21st century has difficult challenges,” he said, including two wars, a depleting energy source and the economy.

Clough said he joind the Marine Corps three days after his 18th birthday because he wanted to serve his country.

“Rep. Hastings is not serving the interests of the fourth district,” he said. “I stand here to announce today that Eastern Washington will elect a Democrat to Congress.”

Tags: Democratic convention, Jay Clough

Denny Heck is up now. He thanked the convention for the nomination and accepted.

Heck grew up in Vancouver and recounted memories of family vacations. He said it’s difficult to ensure the next generation that they’ll have the same opportunities as he had as a child because of the direction the country has taken.

He said he’ll work to help get the country back on its feet. “We need more jobs,” he said, to cheers.

He quoted Ted Kennedy, who said the best social program is a good job. “And so, we can, we must and we will” build jobs, he said. That includes modernizing rail, reforming Wall Street so a similar economic collapse won’t happen, and “get credit flowing to Main Street and increase the jobs that go with it.”

He said Republicans are targeting the third district.

“If you think Main Street is more important than Wall Street, join us,” he said.

His song: Phoenix’s 1901.

Tags: Democratic convention, Denny Heck

Suzan DelBene, who’s running against Republican Dave Reichert, is now up. (Her song: “Teenage Wasteland”)

She said she’ll be the first Democrat to Congress on behalf of the eighth district. She said there’s a failure of leadership from Reichert.

She said Reichert hasn’t tried to hold Wall Street accountable, hasn’t support the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and didn’t work for healthcare reform.

“A job is more than a paycheck, it’s a matter of dignity and confidence,” she said. As a child, her parents moved around the country looking for work. When she was in college, her parents lived with her for a time.

She said despite damage done by Republicans, there is still room to hope.

“As a Democrat and committed progressive, I’ll also fight for the values that we believe in,” she said, including a woman’s right to choose.

Tags: Democratic convention, Susan DelBene

In a brief vote, the state Democratic party has picked Denny Heck for the third congressional district candidate and Clyde Cordero for the fifth congressional district.

Right now, they’re debating whether to endorse Charlie Wiggins in his race for Supreme Court against Justice Richard Sanders. The convention heard two speakers in favor of the endorsement and another two against. That passed, and Wiggins is the Democratic party pick.

Now for recommendations: Democrats are voting on which referenda and initiatives to support. Initiative 1068 (legalizing marijuana): Endorse. Now they’re recounting. The recount: 314 to 185, so it’s endorsed.

They voted to oppose 1100 and 1005 — the initiatives to privatize liquor.

Tags: Democratic convention

The convention is getting started back up after a lunch break — but the World Cup game, where the U.S. team is tied 1-1 with Ghana, is being kept on in the background. To accommodate for speakers, they’re keeping the game on silent.

Tags: Democratic convention, world cup

Tim Kaine said Republicans are hungry for the November elections and want to “take the country back.”

“I want to tell you what our message is,” he said. “What was so great about back anyway?” He said when Pres. Obama was elected, the country was “in a ditch” — the deficit had ballooned, the nation had lost jobs, family incomes had dropped, income disparity had increased and the economy was in shambles.

“We had to build our own ladder, folks,” to climb out of that ditch. “And we built that ladder, and today 18 months later … we’re gaining 4 to 500,000 jobs a month,” he said. Gross Domestic Product is growing, the stock market is climbing.

“Do we want to keep climbing, or do we want to put it back in the hands of the guys who put it in the ditch in the first place?”

Kaine said the economic recovery act — the stimulus — will create jobs, grow the economy and more, yet few Republicans voted for it. Republican “would not lift a finger to help an economy in crisis recover.”

He said healthcare reform was done by Democrats alone — something they should be proud of. He said it provides tax credits for 92,000 small businesses to help purchase insurance for employees. “It’s helping families keep their youngsters on their health insurance policy,” he said. For seniors, he said, it helps cover prescription drug costs not covered by Medicare.

“That’s because of this president and this Congress,” he said. “Many of the Republicans say that their strategy going into this fall is to repeal health reform,” he said. “If they want that to be the battle, let that be the battle,” he said. He suggested printing bumper stickers that say “Bring back pre-existing conditions.” “Let them run on that and we will beat them so badly at the polls on that issue.”

Kaine said he’s not going to sugar coat it: “Midterms are tough … the average president in their first midterm election” loses seats. And, he said, this isn’t an average year.

But he said “we’re going to do everything we can … to make sure that Sen. Patty Murray comes back.” He said Murray has held onto Washington values, “while Dino Rossi has proven again and again” that he’ll support special interests.

Kaine said about 70 percent of the 15 million new voters from 2008 aren’t likely to vote this year. But the Democratic National Campaign Committee is launching an initiative to reach out to young voters. “If we can just increase their percentage turnout from 30 percent to 40 percent, that’s a million and a half more votes” for Democrats, he said.

Tags: Democratic convention, Tim Kaine

Jay Inslee said he was getting his questions prepared for BP executive Tony Hayward at a recent hearing when he heard his Republican colleague apologize to Hayward.

“There is a refrain here: We are the party who don’t believe we should give an apology to Wall Street. We are the party who will pass a bill next week” to further regulate Wall Street. “We are the party who doesn’t think we should apologize to the insurance industry,” he said, but the party that will make sure you can get insurance “even if you have heart disease, even if you have cancer.”

“This is a contest between the optimists of Americans and the pessimists,” he said. “Optimism is an inherent American value,” he said. He said the country is addicted to oil, but “we are the optimists as Democrats and Americans who believe that we can dominate the field in clean energy,” he said.

He said for people who don’t think Americans can master clean energy, he said they should visit Boeing to see their biofuel-powered jet or “let them come to Moses Lake, where we’re making the guts of solar panels,” he said. “Let them come to Washington state, where we intend to lead the world in a clean energy environment.”

He said next month, more jobs will have been created during President Obama’s term than in the eight years George Bush was president. But, he said, Republicans want to repeal some of the work Democrats have done.

“If you see Rob McKenna, you tell him to keep his hands off of our healthcare,” he said, of the state Attorney General, who is part of a lawsuit over the federal health insurance reform.

Inslee said America only knows one direction: Forward. “Stand with me and we will go forward on healthcare, not backwards … stand with me and we will go forward on clean energy,” he said. And education, the economy and more.

Tags: Democratic convention, Jay Inslee