Colorado Confidential spoke with Democratic National Committee person, Debbie Marquez from Eagle, on her impressions of the presidential candidate speeches at the DNC general meeting in Washington DC.CC: What presidential candidate surprised you the most?
DM: I think Gov. Bill Richardson made a big impact on DNC members. He scored a lot of points with his speech. Many people didn’t know about his broad experience in politics and government. I like him because he’s from the West. I met with him later to discuss delegate strategies for the convention.
CC: Did you get the feeling that Richardson is really running for Vice President?
DM: Not at all. He’s in it for the top seat.
CC: In your opinion, what candidate might have done better than the rest?
DM: I think John Edwards was the best received although he went way over his time allotment-but he did have a lot to say.
CC: How about Senator Obama?
DM: You know everyone has higher expectations of him than any other candidate. People assume Obama will hit one out of the ballpark every time he speaks. Maybe he could have done better at the convention meeting, but I thought he was good.
CC: And Sen. Hillary Clinton?
DM: She already has an excellent organization to wave her on. And she met with many focus groups before and after her speech to survey people’s ideas about campaign strategy. Hillary did this during her senatorial race and it was very successful in swaying people to support her candidacy.
CC: Who was your biggest disappointment?
DM: Congressman Kucinich. His DNC speech wasn’t as strong as his comments from the House floor.
CC: Any predictions on the 2008 Democratic presidential race?
DM: What I heard at the DNC meeting is that we might not see a slam dunk convention in Denver. Unpledged delegates coming to the convention may hold the key to the candidate selection-we haven’t seen a convention like that since the 1960’s.
We have an excellent slate of presidential candidates; it’s going to be hard to make up minds. Right now you see some DNC members leaning one way towards a candidate, but very few have made a commitment. This presidential race is going to be very competitive.
Since so many states will be having their presidential primaries on Feb. 5, 2008 (which may include Colorado), there might not be a clear winner through the whole process. We may not know who the presidential candidate is until the convention delegates vote.
More impressions from the DNC meeting on DemNotes.
