versus gay, of black versus white, of people born in this country as opposed to people that is what they want. we win elections when we stand together and we say, you know what? in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, the wealthiest people and the largest corporations are going to start paying their fair share of taxes. elections when we say to the working people in this country, we know you can't make it on eight or nine bucks an hour, and that is why we are going to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. and that is why we are going to

win the election when we say to women, there is no rational economic reason that women make $.79 on the dollar compared to men. we are going to have pay equity. we win an election in which we say to working families, yes, when you go to work, you are going to have quality childcare and pre-k. you know what? we win this election when we say to the unemployed, we are going to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and create millions of decent paying jobs. where are good to win -- we're going to win this election when what world theld republicans are living in when they deny science and refuse to

go forward and combat climate change. election when we haveit clear that women fought too long and too hard to lose control over their own bodies. we win this election on we stand up and say, no, you are not planned cut or defund parenthood. you are going to put more money into planned parenthood. so, sisters and brothers, we are in an historical moment in american history. the crises that we face today in than at anye worse

time since the great depression of the 1930's. in my view, what this is election is about is not just electing a president. significantly, it is about transforming the united states of america. it is about understanding that there is something very, very where the united states of america is the only major country on earth that does not guarantee paid family and medical leave. how does that happen? earthly major country on that does not guarantee paid sick time or paid vacation time.

how does that happen? the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care for every man, woman, and child as a right. so, what this campaign is truly bring people ofether by the tens millions. and that's tough. that is tough stuff to do. but if we do that, were not just going to win this election. we are going to win it by a landslide. -- how what happens is many people in your communities --ieve that the republicans as the republicans do, that we should cut social security, cut medicare, cut federal aid to education, and then give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the top 2/10 of

1%? nobody believes that. but republicans can win elections because so many people have given up on the political process. and what this campaign is about is revitalizing american democracy by bringing people together to stand up and fight for the promise of what this great country can be. [applause] senator sanders: we can be a class in which the middle grows, not shrinks. we can be a nation in which we do not have the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country and more economic and

wealth disparity. we can do that. , we'reorder to that going to have to do something pretty, pretty hard. pretty, pretty, pretty hard. to quote larry david. [applause] and this isers: what we have to do. , ashe last three decades everybody in this room knows because you have been part of the process, we have made significant progress in becoming a less discriminatory society, and we should be proud of that. we should be proud that in 2008, the american people decided to vote for a candidate waste on his program and his ideas and -- character, not the color based on his program and his ideas and his character, not the color of his skin. at we should be proud that all over this

country, as a result of your efforts and those that came before you, women have made extraordinary progress in breaking down discriminatory barriers. and by the way, we are not going back. we are going to go forward. agoif we were here 10 years , and somebody jumped up and said, you know, i think that gay marriage will be made legal in every state in this country, somebody else would have asked them what they were smoking? which raises another issue. [laughter] but we have. but we have made progress. we have made progress in women's rights, in gay-rights, in civil rights. we still have a long way to go in all of those areas, but we should be proud of what we have accomplished. but here is where we have not made progress.

progress in the economic struggle. we have lost ground. in manyen and women cases are working longer hours for lower wages, and almost all of the wealth is going to the people on top. the essential question in terms of the economic struggle is are and toared to organize take on the billionaire class, which today has so much economic and political power? that is the question. and if we are not successful in doing that, my prediction to you is the rich will continue to get richer, well almost everybody else gets poorer. my prediction to you is the republicans who do not believe

citizens united went far enough, want to get rid of all campaign-finance regulations, will simply be able to give checks of hundreds of millions of dollars to the candidate of their choice. in other words, having --didates come employees become employees of the corporate interests. that is the future if we do not educate and if we do not organize. but i have confidence we can do both. have confidence that if we come forward with a progressive, that is prepared to stand up to corporate america , is prepared to stand up to the koch brothers and the billionaire class, that is prepared to outline an agenda which will improve the lives of tens of millions of people, we can not only win the white

house, regain the senate and the house, gain governors chairs all over america -- not only can we do that, but much more importantly, we can transform it theuntry and make country we all know that it can become. thank you all very much. applause]d ♪

>> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome house democratic leader nancy pelosi. ♪ morning,losi: good everyone. it is a morning, a day of great pride as we take pride in all of you here. debbie wasserman schultz, thank you for your great leadership. we are all proud of you. of thecutive director convention, which is going to

nominate the next president of the united states -- senator you, oh, state gina turner, doesn't she turn it on for all of us? she is just great. i said, gina -- [laughter] that is how she makes us feel. falwell.na my daughter christine sings her praises practically every day. thank you, nina. and carol friedman. thank you for your great leadership. here we are today. you are hearing from our fabulous presidential candidates. we just heard the energy and enthusiasm of bernie sanders. see the confidence and the voice of the future of martin o'malley. how wonderful that lincoln chafee has said he is stepping aside to fight with those who choose the democrats to elect a

democratic president of the united states. and of course, we are very proud of hillary clinton. wasn't she wonderful? [applause] that in a moment. today, we come together in celebration of the outstanding leadership of women in our country. again, we take pride in the power of women in our economy, our society, and our democracy. we are proud of the extraordinary progress women have driven across america and throughout our history. and as women leaders in our party, our community, and our country, we read indicate ourselves to the work that remains. -- we rededicate ourselves to the work the remains. guess what? i will get to that. thatourage of generations struggle for equality and civil rights of so many women. today, we must draw inspiration from their leadership and accept

the challenge of their example. this is the day marked by history, 100 years ago today, into themen poured streets of new york city, marching down fifth avenue to demand the right to vote as americans. imagine their courage. imagine their courage. that was the strength of their their commitment to change. that is the dedication and seriousness it took to win. just imagine what they could have done with the technology and communication and mobilization we have today. we don't have to imagine it. we just have to do it ourselves. as we look to our past and the present, we can see that nothing ,s more essential to our future nothing is more wholesome to our than the participation and leadership of women.

that was an applause line. [laughter] [applause] one of the most valuable resources in our country are the outstanding democratic women in the house and the senate. and i want to brag about them. course, they have always been leaders in issues that relate to women and children and families and their leadership does well beyond that now. on issue after issue, fight after fight, it is the democratic women of congress who , ever, ever,he way even right now as we speak. ranking member maxine waters of the financial services committee, leading the fight to reauthorize the xm bank and to m bank andi reauthorize. frank. congresswoman eleanor holmes norton, on the front of the transportation bill and the

negotiations going there. , the ranking democrat on appropriations, with barbara -- twoi in the senate women driving our fight to invest in america and keep america open, keeping government open. our ranking members -- brown, linda sanchez, carolyn maloney. all of these ranking members. they will be chair women when we in 2016. the house and i want to salute the excellent powerful and successful women in homeland services, the intelligence community. the leadership of women is all encompassing.

on every issue, women are leading the way. the women of the house to housec caucus arts -- democratic caucus are standing with president obama and vice president biden, championing opportunity for american families each and every day. and before i go on about women, i want to talk about joe biden for a moment. it that profound statement that he made -- [applause] leader pelosi: we only great deal to joe biden. he was the champion when we passed the violence against women act over 20 years ago. and that was reauthorized just last year. he has been there for us over and over again and i joined debbie and commending them -- commending him in the fight against cancer, the moonshot to personal grief,

his governmental know-how, his record to focus on a problem, cancer, that has hit every family in america. it is hard to imagine a family that has not been affected your it thank you, joe biden, for your great leadership. it you are a warrior for the middle class. -- when i came to congress, there were 23 numbers of congress, 12 democrats, 11 republicans, out of 430 five. imagine. today we have that -- multiplied by five, house democrats, 65, in most women in a caucus the history of a republic. but we want more. we want more. and we need you to help us to get more. the ballots and women at the polls that will lead us to victory. we're so proud that the democratic congressional campaign committee has women running and more than half of our targeted races.

and i think our magnificent executive director. she is just fabulous. so respected, so talented, so politically astute. i do not know if you are hearing from her, but you will be hearing from her. she is just fantastic. they are a priority, electing many more women to congress. we need your help to do so. we know -- i tell you this is a fact. --know that if we reduce the we will elect more women, more minorities, and all of america will be a victor in that success, because we know that when women succeed, america succeeds. ok. , america --ucceed ok. when women succeed, america

succeeds. all right. that's not just a slogan. it, too, is a statement of absolute fact and that is the title of democratic women's agenda for working families and not just the women. our entire caucus. our agenda inspired by our godmother, the great rosa delauro of connecticut. she's absolutely fantastic. the chair of the women's caucus. our women lead -- our women's league cochairs. and the proud member of the dnc -- we stand on their pillars. women equal pay for equal work. .e will make our economy grow paid sick leave. isn't it exciting that our new speaker wants to spend time with his family? we want everybody in america to

have that same opportunity, if someone in the family is sick. affordable, quality childcare. the linchpin of a parent's success in the workplace. this is not just for women. this is for families. this is for men as well. retirement security. ensuring that women can trust in a secure retirement. theave the cochairs of senior task force. not that they are seniors, but cochairs of the senior task force. and this is so important because, as you will see, as we have the battle of the budget, so many of the issues that relate to seniors are at risk. but so many of the issues that pertain to women are out there if the american people weigh in. president lincoln said the public sector is everything. with the, you can accomplish everything. without it, nothing. the public sentiment is there.

raising the minimum wage, paid sick leave, quality, affordable childcare, for our seniors, it is therefore comprehensive immigration reform, it is therefore background checks to make america safer. in order to make all of these things happen, we must unleash the power of women. women at the polls, women at the ballots, women in every walk of life. thesecurity of our country, quality of our education system, the savior of families, every issue you can enter. yet again and again, republicans have shown their a comfortable of session with attacking women's health care, even at the expense of everything else in our country. last month, 151 house republicans voted to shut down government rather than allow to affordable family planning and life-saving

preventative health care. two thirds of the republicans government,wn the mr. speaker, and if you don't, give us your gavel. this is all about the lacked of of respect -- the lack respect for women to make their own decision. and were we proud of cecile richards? they will keep at it. as they willed today with another one of the bills on the floor where they do not want to find planned parenthood and we will keep at it. we will keep at it. usublicans are holding hostage to a calendar of chaos. democrats offer a path to progress, from keeping the government opened, protecting the full faith and credit of the united states of america, having a robust transportation bill, protecting our 9/11 workers with care and compensation, the list goes on. so many things that are overdue. and next week, our path to

progress must overcome their calendar to chaos. and women are in the lead. and instead of doing the things we need to do, republicans are wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on a political committee ant is nothing more than an attempt to derail secretary clinton. -- how proud are we all those members of the midi -- elijah cummings from maryland. tammy duckworth of illinois. i don't know if you watched much of it or sought any of it in the news, but our democratic members were absolutely superb. and i'm very, very proud.

but how about hillary clinton? [cheers] leader pelosi: as bernie sanders said, and as we all know, enough is enough. are ready tomen demand accountability for toxic priorities. betweenmain contrast democrats and republicans will hit home for america's working families. if you believe, as republicans do, that trickle down economics is a way to create jobs in our down, it- it trickles creates jobs, that would be good, if it doesn't, so be it, that is the free market. that is their attitude. and if you believe that, then the money that it costs the taxpayers to give the tax breaks to the wealthiest people in

america, give it to them, it will trickle down, will not allow for the investment in education and infrastructure, research and development, all of the things that we need to strengthen the middle class and make sure everyone participates in the prosperity of our nation. instead of trickle down economics, we're talking about middle class economics. ricky rising the middle class is a driving force in our economy. -- recognizing the middle class is a driving force in our economy. that middle class is the backbone of our country and that that stagnation of wages in -- we want toss lift many more people into the middle class. and president obama and vice president biden have done it excellent job. just to review for a moment, when the president took office, standing on the steps of the ago,ol nearly seven years $4 trillion.

it is under $500 billion now. we would like it to be lower, but it's 70% less than what the republicans left him. unemployment was over 10%. it is now flirting with 5%. under his leadership, and many of the initiatives that the house and senate democrats put into the recovery package, etc. the stock market was between 6000 and 7000. it is now over 17,000. 10,000 points. who says the economy is not better under democrats? 70 months, straight months of private-sector job creation. ingenuity of the the private sector, got bless them. a lot of it is tied to initiatives in our recovery package.

tied to the rebound of the insurance industry -- excuse me, the auto in this tree. not the insurance industry. with our policies and the president's leadership, the auto industry is now thriving and contributing to private-sector job creation. the list goes on and on. say very probably, 17 million more americans have access to quality, affordable health care. where being a woman is no longer a pre-existing medical condition. , this is great. all of the indicators are wonderful except the wage indicator, and that is what this debate has to be in this country. theblicans have stood in way of any additional measures the president wanted to take. their obstruction, their dysfunction has stood in the way of additional job growth and

paycheck growth, and so, it is absolutely essential that in this debate, in this election, the public understands what is at stake and what it means to them. what it means to them and to their families. we have to reclaim our politics from those that would drown our elections and really suffocate the airways with their dark, special interest, unidentified special interest money. we will lead and we will act. we will overturn citizens united. we will reform campaign finance campaignfinance -- finance systems. as my daughter dana always reminds me, we will not agonize. we will organize. in our presidential candidates speaking before you today, we see wisdom, judgment, and vision

. we know our nominee for president will draw a start contrast with strength and values with the destructiveness of the republican special business priorities. we may be electing the first woman president of the united states. know we will be electing a democratic president of the united states. and we know that a democratic president will need a strong congress to succeed. not the republican congress of dysfunction and obstructionism and extremism. we will work hard and we will win and we will win big across the board in 2000 16. we are already seeing the list of the beginning of the way. the inspiration of the women leaders today, the inspiration and strength of our candidates for president across the board, our women candidates running --

i am so proud to be the leader of the house democratic caucus, which is a majority of women, minorities, and lgbt members and that caucus. -- drawing courage inspiration from women across the history of all of our country, we must bring the message to your state, to your district, to your community. when women vote, women succeed. and when women succeed -- now you've got it. you, women's leadership forum for your work on behalf of all americans. are you ready to get out there and ring doorbells? greatu ready for a democratic victory? i thought you were. thank you all very much. have a good day. ♪

>> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome governor martin o'malley. [applause] thanks -- thank you very, very much. thank you, very, very much. let's give it up for my heroine nancy pelosi. it's wonderful to be with all of you today. i haven't been in the company of so many strong women since my daughters moved out of the house. it's great to be with all of you. thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to share a couple thoughts with you this morning. everybody wide-awake? yes? i want to thank our chair, debbie wasserman schultz, for her leadership and allowing me to be her today. i want to thank all of you. especially those of you who flew

in from the west coast coast, for being up so early today. coast folks are very hardy when it comes to the continental flights, something i am still trying to learn. let's begin. my name is martin o'malley. i am very, very lucky to have been, to a spent my entire life surrounded by strong women. my mother, barbara o'malley, has senator barbara mikulski's receptionist and gatekeeper for more than 30 years. how about that? work up every day, goes to at the ginger age of 87. she keeps that senate office open, keeps it in line, and that is no surprise to me, because she kept six of us in line. she and my dad were part of that , so-calledation

greatest generation by tom brokaw, but not themselves. my dad flew 33 missions over japan, went to college only because of the g.i. bill. but my mom, for her part, at the age of 17, in fort wayne, indiana -- [cheering] wayne,alley: in fort indiana, she and her mom double teamed my rant father, and my mom -- my grandfather, and my mom got a pilot's license and she flew as a civil aviator. strong woman. all six of us. my feet of older sisters and my three little brothers and believe that every generation of americans has not only a sacred responsibility to accomplish great things, but also has an incredible opportunity, because of this country of ours. this country which, if we make

stronger, will give back more to our children and our grandchildren. and those are the lessons that my wife katie and i have done our very best to pass on to our kids. we are so proud of our daughters , tara and grace of malley, and what they are doing already for the country and that better future that we seek. theaughter tara works of u.n. foundation and my daughter grace is a first grade teacher carter -- walter p. carter elementary school in the heart of baltimore city. true story. when her dad and announced for president, a lot of her colleagues were there and she returned to her class. a little girl named sabina took her by the sleeve. she said, miss o'malley, i'm not so sure about this idea of your father running for president.

because quite friendly, i kind of like barack obama. -- quite frankly, i kind of like barack obama. [laughter] of usmalley: well, a lot like barack obama, right? and for good reason. when our country was on the brink of being plunged into a second great depression, we elected a new leader, not to make the popular decisions, but now, ast decisions, and a nation, 67 months of positive job growth, america is moving in a better direction thanks to president obama. our timesrd truth of is this. not acted a president, magician. and 30 years of bad economic us withhave left problems to address. 70% of us today are earning the same or less than we did 12

years ago. which means we still have work to do. one of the important things i learned about the american dream, i learned at the age of 17 or 18. working inot of time restaurants. many of them were irish bars, quite honestly. "working" in quotes, because i was the guy in advance. namedwas a gentleman miguel. without him, i wondered how that plays could even function. he was the first one there opening the door. he was pushing through crowds of people, busing tables when he needed to bus tables, and at the end of the night in a quiet moment, and one of the most important lessons i have ever learned about the truth of the american dream we share, i asked him this question. i said, mr. miguel, how is it ?hat you work so hard

and instead of telling me how, he told me why in three very powerful words. daughter.or my die are partwould of a limited self creating called the united states of america. the promise of the heart of that ministry is not some vague idea, some amorphous abstraction way out there someplace. far from it. at it is very real .nd concrete wherever we start in our country , you start where you start through your own hard work, through your own of family, through your own talents and imagination, you should be able to get ahead. an economy that works

for all of us. call that the american dream read it is the action put into practice in every generation that included more of our people , more of the economic, social, political life in our country. it is those actions that earned us the brand that no other nation on the planet has of being the land of opportunity. to make equals justice under the law a reality. to ensure that men and women in our country not only have equal opportunity, but get paid equally for doing a work area -- equal work. me share some thoughts with you. i am running for president of the united states for one reason and one reason only, and that is to rebuild the truth of that american dream that we share, and that is why in o'malley is minutes ration -- in an o'reilly -- o'malley administration,

that would be one of the most important parts of the american dream. i laid out 15 strategic goals for real building that drink. many have to do with getting wages to go up again rather than down. what is the difference between a dream and a goal? it's a deadline. some of these are tied by deadlines. to get there, we need clear, measurable roadmaps of action, and the first must be pay discrimination, because today in america, women can be paid less than men with no real penalty that any employer might face. we must hold employers that discriminate accountable, prevent retaliation against women who speak up, and empower women to find out whether they are in fact being paid as much as a man doing the same work.

that is why i have called for making paid data publicly available by sex, race, ethnicity, so all employees can see they are making a fair wage for their job. another issue. curbing pay discrimination alone is not enough. part of the reason women are paid less than men for doing the work is many are forced it to leave the workforce to raise families, and they are penalized .or doing so get this. only 12% of american workers have access to paid leave. forcan lose their jobs taking even unpaid leave to care for a newborn child. what's more, childcare costs more today in america than public university tuition in a majority of states. think about that one. putting quality care out of reach for many families, forcing many parents who would like to work to stay home.

if women decide to have families, they should not have to choose between a career and taking care of their children. all parents, men and women, gay single,ght, married or should be able to take 12 weeks to take care pay of children or loved ones. in no family, especially lower middle income parents, should have to pay more than 10% of their income on safe, affordable childcare in any given year. these of the choices that include more people in our economy. but perhaps more pressing than either of these challenges is what we are witnessing from the the republican presidential candidates and what we are witnessing in this republican congress. what am i talking about? i am talking about the way they are kicking around women's

health care and planned parenthood like it is some political football and it has to stop. the all-out, ideological, fundamentalist, right-wing assault on women's health. and in statehouse after state house, republican ideologues are defunding planned parenthood, which provides vital, life-saving health services to millions of women at all income levels every year. every single republican candidate for president has backward,hese misguided, and dangerous policies. think about it. if they had their way, millions onwomen every year who rely planned parenthood for cancer screenings, prenatal care, contraception would be in the dark. we cannot take our country backward and deny women basic health care services. we must stand firm in our commitment to protecting and expanding women's health care options for all.

i have been proud to have been in this fight throughout my years of public service. as governor, and prior to that as mayor. i am the only candidate in our party with 15 years of executive at areas. i signed the family planning work sex, giving the 5000 low income women access to 45,000eption -- low-income women access to contraception and cancer screening. i expanded and if it into more comprehensive health centers and expedited eligibility for the natal services. because of these efforts, because of these actions, we cut maryland's 18% andortality rate by

drove it down to one of the lowest levels. as president, i would stand up to the republicans who are --trict inc. women's health restricting women's health services, holding states accountable so all women have access to essential reproductive health care, including contraception. and i would support access to comprehensive ray neidl care, -- adopting a major system for states. womantime that every deserves the right to live a healthy life, free from the backward thinking of the ideologues that have taken over the public and party. ofm proud to run on a record 15 years executive experience. action, not words. get this. , theimes the trickle down high druid's trickle down

economics are surprised to find we actually do the right thing when you do the just thing. when you treat people's dignity and equal rights under the law, that is good for our economy. that is what we did in maryland. we did not just talk about creating economic opportunity for women. when i was governor, we actually put together proven solutions. because two thirds of minimum were women, we raised our minimum wage and past of the nation's first living wage. because -- [applause] mr. o'malley: because the early hood years are so critical, we took steps to increase quality pre-k education. we put into place and passed our own lilly ledbetter act to protect women from workplace discrimination. we set, met, and exceeded, actually, in a recession, one of

the most ambitious goals and the country for a women-owned minority business procurement and we exceeded it in a recession. and get this. as a result of all of these choices, we made maryland forrding to the center american progress, the best state in the nation for women's opportunity and economic security. state also has not only the highest concentration of women-owned businesses of any state in the nation, but we also have the lowest gender pay gap in the country. these things actually work. news about the future we face is this. we don't have to put on our false hopes.

to our have to return true selves. we must recognize the powerful american truths that our economy is not money. it is people. it is all of our people. and therefore, just as our weents and grandparents did, must always raise the minimum wage to keep it above the poverty line and raise it to $15 an hour, however we can, wherever we can. at and we should make it easier, and not harder for men and women to join labor unions and bargain for better pay. and unlike those in the other who want to privatize or cut social security, i say we should expand social security, changing thet by

cap. we also need to change the formulas and social security so we do not penalize women who come out of the workforce to take care of parents or kids. and the other things we have to do is a nation is this. look, and every generation, we find a way to face the great challenges and make them opportunities. what am i talking about? i'm talking about the greatest business opportunity to come to united states in 100 years. and i am the first and hopefully forward ast to put plan to move us toward a 100% clean electric red by 2050 -- electric grid by 2050. and if we want to get wages going up in the writer action, yes, we must restore wage and and one ofies back those important policies is this.

you won't wages to go up rather than down or flatlining? let's get 11 million of our neighbors out of the awfully book shadow economy and into the full light of an american oak and economy by passing comprehensive immigration reform. party's, the democratic race for president, has just begun. there are about 100 days to go theirthe voters have voiceunity to have their heard in the iowa caucus. i aim excited about the future. i could not be more honored to be having this sort of conversation on our stage, because you saw the debate the other night, and you hurting very different debate than what the other people have, didn't you? there was no bashing of immigrants.

there was no bashing of immigrants. you did not hear us say denigrating things about women. far from it. is easy totimes it become discouraged about our national politics, but i ask you to do as i do. under 30.ng americans because you will rarely find among them young people that deny climate change is real or want to deny right's gay couples or their children or bashing immigrants. aat tells me we are moving to much more connected and generous and giving place. our opportunity in this election its arrival but 10 years. there are people who tell me, boy, you've got a tough fight. there are a lot of people who would look you in the eyes and tell you that your fight to give your sons and daughters a better future with more opportunity rather than less is a tough fight. you know what? i kind of like tough fights.

i have always been drawn to tough fights. perhaps the toughness of the fight tells us we are fighting saving.thing worth our children's future is worth saving. our country is worth saving. the american dream is worth saving and our climate is worth saving. we are all in this together. we need each other. and we must help each other if we are going to succeed. i need your help and i thank you so much for allowing me to be with you today. thanks very, very much. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome ceo of the democratic national convention committee, reverend leah daughtry.

\ daughtry: good morning, beloved sisters. good morning. we will gather in philadelphia, these city of brotherly love and sisterly affection, to nominate and present to the world our nominee for president of the united states. i have the great privilege of serving as your ceo for the 2016 democratic national convention. [applause] daughtry: and it is my job to ensure our convention is successful. to welcome our 50,000 attendees, to ensure our 500 buses run on

time, that are 15,000 hotel rooms are filled, that our 20,000 journalists have power and connectivity, and that she would miles of cable is installed. that the carpet is laid, and importantly, that the drinks are delivered. [laughter] reverend dockery: -- reverend most importantly, it is my job to make sure our convention gives our candidate the best possible springboard for a tough general election campaign. our note to the world that nominee is ready and able to lead. it is a tall order, but we are up to the task. building a convention is like building a house. andre laying the groundwork building peace by piece, layer on layer. nobody should try to build a

house alone. that is why we have assembled a great construction team to work with me every day to ensure that we deliver on time, on task, on budget. this is not my first time working at a convention. i was the ceo of the 2008 convention in denver. that makes me the first person to have held this position twice. today, i am here to talk about why i am so extraordinarily proud to be a democratic woman. politics and civic engagement is in my blood. some of my fondest memories as a child are on voter registration drives and trips to albany with my church area and one of my earliest memories is barbara jordan during the watergate

hearings. , a strong,r intelligent, persistent, insistent powerful woman using asking important questions. i asked my father, who is that lady? my dad explained to that nine-year-old self who she was in what she was doing and why she was doing it. and i knew i wanted to be smart like her and strong like her and persistent like her and a democrat like her. 50 years ago, fannie lou hamer attended our party's 1964 convention and demand it to be heard and pressed her right to be seated as a delegate. and as i rose in the ranks of i grew inatic party,

all all of the tenacity and fearlessness of women like ms. hamer. i used to think she could not time and thisthis day. she could not have imagined all of us together in this room, strong, accomplished, powerful women come a working together. she could not have imagined me in this position. but then one day, i realized that wasn't true. foughtzed the reason she so hard, the reason that she made so many sacrifices was exactly because she could imagine us. because she did believe that one day all of us together, , organizers, we would be possible. because she believed that one day we strong, accomplished, powerful women could and would

be in a room like this. working and planning together. because she held a vision that one day a black chick from theklyn could be ceo of democratic national convention. not once, but twice. that we could be college presidents, state party chairs and members of congress and governors. that we could be on the presidential ticket. hell, we could lead to the presidential ticket. party.lieved in our they believed in us and what we could and would become. that one day we would stand together as one, fighting for the soul of our country, fighting to preserve the values of our party, software for by our forefathers and foremothers. rosa like patsy mays and

parks, shirley chisholm and geraldine ferraro, women like my mother, your mother, women like our mothers, our sisters, our way makers and door openers, strategy crafters and message mavens. we are the party of freedom fighters, day laborers and ceos, teachers and firefighters, the working poor, the middle class, and the folks who have a little extra. we work together to create opportunity for every american. we fight together for truth and justice, pressing the case for fairness and equality, honoring diversity in all of its forms because we understand that we don't all have to be the same to fight for the same things. we understand that diverse is not just for us -- not just a word on a paper or something we talk about, it is about what we do. it is a