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Norton, Vice Chair of Platform Committee, to Speak at Denver Convention
Congresswoman to Focus on DC Voting Rights During DNC Speech
For more information contact: James Jones, Communications Director
202.462.6000 x12 office / 202.557.4864 mobile / jjones@dcvote.org
August 14, 2008
Washington, DC - Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean said today that Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton will speak at the Democratic National Convention, upon recommendation of the party’s nominee, Senator Barack Obama. Norton will speak on Wednesday evening at the Denver convention on D.C. voting rights.
“We deeply appreciate that Senator Obama has not left his commitment to D.C. in the Senate but has continued his work for D.C. Voting Rights by bringing his commitment to our issues with him into his campaign and now to Denver. My talk at the convention will alert thousands of Democratic leaders and activists that we want them to continue to work, as our nominee has, for the three votes we need to break the filibuster and get the D.C. Voting Rights Act through the Senate,” Norton said. Last weekend, Norton, who was appointed vice chair of the Democratic Platform Committee, at the request of Senator Obama, went to Pittsburgh to help write the 2008 platform. She worked closely with Obama’s staff and the platform committee for new D.C. voting rights language in the 2008 platform and on other platform language.
“At the 2004 convention,” Norton said, “we had not yet gotten our voting rights bill through the House. Today, with the strong support of Democrats and Republicans throughout the country, the D.C. Voting Rights Act has passed the House, and we believe we have the votes in the Senate. The timing of this year’s convention can only help us to further energize Democrats nationwide as we try for a new Senate vote in September.”
The Democratic Convention is a special focus of D.C. residents, who vote overwhelmingly for Democrats, because the convention provides the only occasion when the entire Democratic Party meets. The convention, therefore, is a unique opportunity to showcase D.C. Voting Rights and the continuing commitment of the Party and the presidential nominee. In 2004, D.C. also had the nation’s first-in-the country primary, a non-binding primary to call attention to D.C. voting rights.
Information provided by Citizens for Eleanor Holmes Norton. For more information, contact: Gwen Benson-Walker at 202.506.5611.
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