This morning’s breakfast with the MA delegation — the first one we actually heard all of (they start at a brutal 7 a.m.) — was quite a show. The breakfasts run about two hours, and are jam-packed with Democratic dignitaries both within and outside MA. Today, MA Dems chair John Walsh was the emcee (as he always is); Congressman Ed Markey did a bunch of the introductions as well as giving his own very fine speech; and we heard from such characters as Secretary of State Bill Galvin (who spoke well on election procedures), Center for American Progress guru John Podesta, and Lt. Gov. Murray.
Of particular interest, of course, was the special guest, former Senator George McGovern, who amusingly started off his speech by praising “the smartest voters in the country.” (For those of you too young to remember, George McGovern won only one state — MA — in his 1972 race against Richard Nixon.) It was fascinating to hear him talk about the 1968 convention. He recalled that, when looking out over the convention hall, it was an almost uniform sea of white middle-aged males. He led the way in gently encouraging states to reform their caucus systems so that delegations would be more representative of the states they supposedly represent. And that changed the party dramatically.
Also a fascinating speaker was Dianne Wilkerson. She is
