As you can see, the time on this post is after 1 am on Wednesday morning. This was an extremely long but inspiring day. The day started with a breakfast meeting at 8 am hosted by PPL. State Chairman Jim Burn introduced Senator Bob Casey who spoke about how the Romney/Ryan plan would adversely affect senior citizens. Also speaking on important Pa. issues were Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, State treasurer Rob McCord, Kirk Adams, executive director for SEIU, Pennsylvania Attorney General candidate, Kathleen Kane, and finishing up with DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz.
Next stop was the We the Women Luncheon at an uptown Charlotte restaurant hosted by Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz… excellent food…good speakers. Then, because protesters were blocking traffic the hotel busses were unable to transport us back to our hotels, 10 miles outside the city. Taxis were in short supply so it took a couple of hours to return to our rooms to prepare for the evening. Again transportation problems prevented us from returning to the Time Warner Cable Arena on time and when we did reach the city, security prevented all forms of transportation from getting within 2 blocks of the venue.
Did I mention the torrential down pour? By the time I entered the arena I was completely soaked.I missed the official opening but the electric atmosphere quickly dried me off and the of speakers were so moving, several reduced me to tears. Like the woman whose infant daughter needed several heart surgeries and would have reached her lifetime limit on health care coverage by age 6 months. Now, thanks to the Affordable Health Care Act, she can now concentrate on her daughter's health not her healthcare insurance. The keynote speaker, Julian Castro, mayor of San Antonio, Texas was introduced by his twin brother, State Representative, Jauquin Castro, who told of how they were able to take advantage of "oportunidad" and get an education to improve their quality of life. And of course, First Lady Michelle Obama brought the crowd to their feet chanting "four more years".
Long as this day was, I will be happy to repeat it over again tomorrow…maybe not the rain part…but all of the exhilaration and pride I felt tonight being part of the Democratic Party. Tomorrow is another day to move FORWARD.