DNC speakers announced 8/27 UPDATE: Crist will speak

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Yeah, the DNC speaker line-up...doesn't seem very good. Barbara Lee? The Planed Parenthood head? Some stupid Hollywood acctress? God damn Sandra Fluke?

Also, I actually kind of like Carter, but he's a terrible pick for a primetime DNC speaker.

Booker was a good, pretty obvious pick though.

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Aren't Kamala Harris and Hickenlooper also considered rising stars?

Hickenlooper is. Not Harris. Harris was the worst-performing statewide Democrat in California.

Anyways, this is a pretty awful list (if it is the atual list).

Malloy and Granholm are unpopular in their own states. Sandra Fluke is ridiculous. And what the HELL at selecting Barbara Lee. Are they insane?

Sinegal looks like a great choice though. Booker as well. But where are their other stars?

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Kamala Harris is definitely a rising star. She had the worst performance because she was running against a very popular, "moderate" Republican. Her victory was something of an upset.

Cooley was popular and moderate, but he was not the only moderate Republican on the ballot. Gavin Newsom romped against a moderate, hispanic Republican.

The fact simply is that Kamala Harris wasn't even that popular in the Democratic primary. She wasn't many people's top choice. And she still isn't. Her record as SF DA was not very good. Gavin Newsom, with all his flaws, is still a much more of a rising star than Harris.

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Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren
Former president Bill Clinton
First Lady Michelle Obama
Keynote speaker Julian Castro, mayor of San Antonio
Former President Jimmy Carter will address the gathering by video
Former Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida
Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin
Newark Mayor Cory Booker
Former Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Tammy Duckworth
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel
Georgetown Law School Graduate Sandra Fluke
Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx
Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm
California Attorney General Kamala Harris
Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper
Montana State Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau
Former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine
President of NARAL Pro-Choice America Nancy Keenan
Author and daughter of former President Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy
Lieutenant General Claudia Kennedy (ret.)
U.S. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts
Women’s rights activist Lilly Ledbetter
Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California
CarMax co-founder and former CEO Austin Ligon
Obama Campaign Co-Chair Eva Longoria
Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter
U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, together with the women of the U.S. Senate
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley
Houston Mayor Annise Parker
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick
President of Planned Parenthood Action Fund Cecile Richards
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak
Journalist Cristina Saralegui
Costco co-founder and former CEO Jim Sinegal
Former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland
Los Angeles Mayor, Democratic Convention Chair Antonio Villaraigosa
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Okay. So I don't want to criticize the Dems too early, because they might actually have breakouts. But most of these people are either extremely tired/retired political forces (Granholm, Strickland, Carter). completely irrelevant (Saralegui), already-well-known politicians (O'Malley, Kerry, Kaine, Rahmbo), or unpopular politicians (Malloy, Granholm, Villaraigosa). And a few insanos (Barbara Lee, Sandra Fluke). And everyone hates Mikulski in the Senate (voted meanest senator several times). Also, Denise Juneau amused because the DNC probably want to check off the Native American speech box, and picked a completely unknown state education superintendent to do so. But who knows - she might be a breakout. Maybe. Maybe.

There are a few potential breakout potentials here: Parker and Rybak are popular mayors and potential breakout. Hickenlooper and Booker are already rising stars. And of course, Castro.

It's pretty mediocre overall though. Imagine if the Republicans did this. Picking people like Bachmann and Norquist (like Dems are picking PP president), and then mostly retired politicians.

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I'm not sure why the Republicans here are fixated on 'breakouts.' This is Obama's convention and the DNC does not want anyone to upstage him. Warren, of course, can have her moment, and Castro can too, but unlike the RNC, this isn't about creating an open mic session for 2016 because the movement doesn't like their nominee. Plus, who is actually missing from this line-up, aside from Hillary?

And why rag on poor Jennifer Granholm? She is an excellent speaker.

I respectfully disagree with the first point. It's the Democratic National Convention, not the Obama National Convention. There's more at stake than Obama. Things like the platform, the party messaging, and the future of the Democratic Party.

I mean, I'm not ragging on Jennifer Granholm. I reserve my contempt for Barbara Lee, Sandra Fluke, and Kamala Harris. I'm just saying that she left office relatively unpopular and she's more of a media-person/academic now than an active politician. IIRC, she writes for Politico and teaches somewhere.  Her future won't be in elected politics. Having her speak is a lot like having Huckabee speak. But there was a lot more to the RNC than just Huckabee, while I don't see many candidates for the future in the current DNC line-up.

The Democrats need to prepare for the post-Obama era and I don't see them doing this. They're not nurturing new politicians and they're completely ceding the arguments on things that will be important in the future, like entitlement reform and education. When we eventually debate entitlement reform, I suspect the debates will be framed by Republican vocabulary. The DNC was a chance to prepare and they may very well miss that chance.

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These are the only people on the list I have ever heard of, and none of them make me want to go out and watch their speeches. The only ones I'd be anywhere near interested in watching are Clinton, Carter, Kerry (former Presidents/candidates), Crist (obvious reasons) and Hickenlooper (I kinda like him). All the others aren't exactly high-profile. Stupid list overall. Where's the John Lynchs, the John Kitzhabers, the Jon Testers, the Jim Webbs, the Brian Schweitzers, the Russ Feingolds?

Jon Tester probably doesn't want to tie himself to the national DNC, being in a tough re-election. That, and he's quite busy campaigning for re-election. Same reason why Brown wasn't at the RNC.

Now I'll admit, I like Lynch. I may or may not have voted for him. But his political career is done. It's his last term and he's far too moderate for any kind of national profile in the Democratic Party.

I also really like Jim Webb. Ad I'm pretty sure Jim Webb would not actually want to show up DNC. If you hadn't noticed, Webb is not particularly happy with the national party right now.

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Also, the GOP made a good move by focusing their convention on the economy. Why is the DNC devoting a billion damn speeches to birth control and gay rights?

I think one speech on both of those issues would be a good idea. And not from politicians - but rather from "normal people", like an emotional gay couple.

But getting Sandra Fluke, the head of Planned Parenthood, the head of NARAL, AND Mikulski (who will talk about abortion) is ridiculous. If they spend the entire convention harping about birth control, abortion, and killing Osama, and then an awful jobs report comes out the day after the convention; it will be the worst convention since Chicago.

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I agree. Obama usually surprises people with his speeches. The one he gave in 2008 was quite detailed about his plan for the economy. I think the women will probably get the first day for the "War On Women" crap that no one cares about. Day 2 and 3 will probably be about the things Obama has accomplished, where he wants to go, and where Romney wants to take us.

I have yet to meet a Democrat in real life who didn't mention the "War on Women" or gays as one of their top two reasons for voting Obama. Hell, even Bain seems like a distant second.

I am starting to think you are quite unusual for a Democrat. Unusual in a good way. Which kind of makes me want to try to poach you for our side one day.

"Where Romney wants to take us." There's absolutely no way Obama won't start talking about "war on women" and abortion/planned parenthood/gays. That's probably issue #1 for at least a third of his supporters, if not half.

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Well that full list is slightly better.

Yeah. In all honesty, part of what makes the Democrat Convention naturally not as good as the Republicans in terms of new political talent is that the Democrats just don't have the sheer numbers. The Republican Class of 2010 is very very large. The Democrat Class of 2010 is not very large. There's not much they can reasonably do about that. Practically every single Democrat governor that won in 2010 (even the extremely unpopular ones like Quinn, Chaffee, and Malloy), and they still don't even have that many.

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Ann Coulter quipped that as of 2010, the Democratic Party's freshest faces were Harry Reid and Jerry Brown.  I remember watching Mr. Brown's victory speech in 2010.  When he started talking about the craftsmanship of the auditorium's ceiling, I knew California politics had sunk to a new low. 

I believe every new day is a new low for California politics.