CHICAGO \u2014 It was not yet 9 a.m. Tuesday, but Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was moving fast through the labyrinth of delegate breakfasts at a hotel near the Democratic National Convention. First Tennessee, then Pennsylvania, a sprint downstairs for Wyoming and Montana, then back up to New Mexico and over to North Carolina. In less than two hours, she would speak to eight breakfasts covering 11 states while snapping hundreds of selfies in photo lines run by her staff with ruthless efficiency.<\/p>\n
The quadrennial Democratic gathering can be where White House dreams get made, as Barack Obama showed in a 2004 speech that transformed him from an unknown Illinois state senator into a star. In Chicago this week, Whitmer set the pace for the Democrats\u2019 bench of potential White House aspirants who found their ambitions frozen by President Joe Biden\u2019s decision to terminate his reelection campaign and elevate Vice President Kamala Harris. It now may be four years \u2014 if not eight \u2014 before any of them reveal their true aspirations. But they were all here, hustling, mingling, striving \u2014 and practically tripping over one another in the process.<\/p>\n
Former president Bill Clinton in his convention speech Wednesday described the presidential campaign as the \u201cgreatest job interview for the greatest job in the world.\u201d The selfie lines this week, the get-to-know you speeches, the countless grab-and-grin meetings behind closed doors were all part of the less-glamorous courtship of party officials that is well underway to ensure that job interview happens.<\/p>\n
Before Harris was coronated by Democrats as Biden\u2019s successor, leaders like Whitmer, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, Georgia Sen. Raphael G. Warnock and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker were informally known to some as the \u201cClass of 2028.\u201d It was a marker for the next presidential year when everyone had assumed Democrats would have an open primary. If Harris succeeds in winning in November, they could be the Class of 2032. But in Chicago they were taking it in stride, using their talents to pump up rank-and-file Democrats for Harris and ribbing former president Donald Trump, her Republican opponent.<\/p>\n
The only safe play for all of them is being \u201cthe best, most hardworking surrogate you can possibly be. And if you\u2019re from Pennsylvania, Michigan \u2014 deliver your state,\u201d said Dan Pfeiffer, a former senior adviser to Obama.<\/p>\n
Whitmer\u2019s speech to Pennsylvania delegates Monday came just after that of Shapiro, who was among Harris\u2019s top choices to be her running mate. At the breakfast held by the first-in-the-nation primary state of South Carolina, Whitmer literally crossed paths to the microphone with Warnock.<\/p>\n
As Warnock looked on \u2014 perhaps sizing up his future competition \u2014 Whitmer rallied her \u201cparty of happy warriors\u201d in shimmery platform Converse, dark rinse jeans and a pink plaid blazer pinned with a button that said \u201cWear pink, get s\u2014 done.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHit the doors. Register voters. Eat a damn vegetable on occasion,\u201d Whitmer ordered Tuesday morning. \u201cWhen you get home on Friday, take a nap, and then roll up your sleeves and put on your chucks, and let\u2019s do the work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then she was back out the door as her chief of staff marshaled her selfie line into formation in the booming voice of a former teacher. \u201cShe\u2019s going to come right behind you and get in every photo. Have your phone up and ready to go. Look like me,\u201d JoAnne Huls said with an outstretched arm, pantomiming holding a cellphone camera high above her head. Whitmer darted down the line with a smile plastered to her face, popping her head into frame behind each shoulder. \u201cLet\u2019s go!\u201d Huls shouted, keeping things moving. \u201cWe\u2019re Detroiters. We make things. We make lines. We make photos. It\u2019s an assembly line at its best!\u201d<\/p>\n
As Shapiro was about to take the stage at the \u201creal freedom happy hour\u201d he hosted at a Chicago art gallery Monday, former Obama strategist Jim Messina observed that for all the Democratic hopefuls, the next 70-something days offer an instance where hard work on behalf of the Harris-Walz ticket is not only \u201cgreat politics for your political future\u201d but \u201calso the right thing to do.\u201d But that alignment does not make the waiting game any less awkward.<\/p>\n
Newsom \u2014 whose fate has been inextricably intertwined with Harris\u2019s since the two began rising together in San Francisco political circles decades ago \u2014 maintained a notably low profile in Chicago after spending much of the year as one of Biden\u2019s most visible surrogates.<\/p>\n
As the California governor adjusts to a dramatically changed political landscape, this moment has echoes of a similar collision of ambitions in 2015, when a U.S. Senate seat opened for the first time in two decades. Harris ran; Newsom opted out and ultimately forged a different path to become governor. This week, he did not deliver a formal speech from the stage, opting for the more pedestrian role of awarding California\u2019s votes to Harris from the convention floor during a ceremonial roll call of the 50 states.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know my status. \u2026 I\u2019m Harris 2024, Harris 2028, Harris or bust,\u201d Newsom said when asked about how her ascent has affected his own thinking about a White House run. \u201cI\u2019m all in. I\u2019ve been on this train for a long time \u2014 from the Senate to everything else. It\u2019s pretty simple.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shapiro also demurred on questions about his future while courting hundreds of delegates, donors and party influencers on the sun-splashed lawn of the gallery in Chicago\u2019s West Loop. Guests took photos in front of a giant American flag elaborately constructed from Pennsylvania-themed cans of Utz potato chips and Heinz ketchup. There were hors d\u2019oeuvres from every region of the country, including a quinoa salad with golden raisins, shrimp and grits, Chicago dogs and \u201cmini Americana shortcake parfaits\u201d in glass shooters with tiny spoons.<\/p>\n
But Shapiro\u2019s fans were on the hunt for convention swag that might turn into collectibles. Some guests asked how they could get the black enamel \u201c48\u201d lapel pins that aides were wearing as one attendee noted that they could denote a potential Shapiro run to be the 48th president of the United States. (Clearing up the confusion, Shapiro\u2019s aides said the pins signify that he\u2019s the 48th governor of the commonwealth).<\/p>\n
\u201cI know you\u2019re not going to believe this, but I really don\u2019t think about it,\u201d Shapiro said in a brief interview outside the party when asked about his White House intentions. \u201cI have always believed that if you do good work, if you put in the effort, if you show results for people, the politics tends to take care of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shapiro\u2019s party was posh, but it was no match for the extravagant affair thrown Tuesday by Pritzker, the billionaire Illinois governor and heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune who used his wealth and influence to convince party officials to let him host the convention in his home state.<\/p>\n
He was one of the most visible figures in Chicago \u2014 sitting at the elbow of Hillary Clinton during her husband\u2019s convention speech and throwing his gala for 8,000 people with at least a dozen open bar spaces, acrobats in lit-up costumes, at least four options for frozen cocktails and a performance by singer-songwriter John Legend.<\/p>\n
Thursday morning, Pritzker was trying out a version of what could eventually become a presidential stump speech before the delegates of Nevada, a state that hosts one of the nation\u2019s first primary contests. He acknowledged that his state\u2019s voters were probably not \u201clooking for a White, Ukrainian American who is a Jewish billionaire\u201d when he first ran in 2017, but said he had used his years in office to champion the \u201cfight for personal freedoms.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to ensuring the funding for the Democratic convention in Chicago, Pritzker has been building goodwill within his party by providing more than $2.5 million in financial backing, as well as strategic support, for ballot measures to codify abortion rights in Arizona, Florida, Nevada and Montana through his Think Big America nonprofit.<\/p>\n
After he left the Nevada breakfast to chants of \u201cJB! JB! JB!,\u201d Lindsey Harmon, who is executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes Nevada, stood up to tell delegates how Pritzker had \u201cstepped up in an unbelievable way\u201d \u2014 prompting a fresh round of applause.<\/p>\n
Pritzker wound down his hosting duties on the last afternoon of the convention by taking Moore, another rising star within the Democratic Party, to The Wieners Circle \u2014 a hot dog joint known for its salty language.<\/p>\n
After ordering two char dogs, they shot content for their social media feeds and bantered about the stand\u2019s \u201cTrump Footlong\u201d \u2014 a three-inch hot dog whose name mocked the former president\u2019s penchant for exaggerations. Out back, Pritzker talked Moore into doing a shot of Mal\u00f6rt, a Chicago liqueur that he has dubbed the unofficial drink of the convention.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re tough, you were in the military. You\u2019ve done this a lot,\u201d Pritzker said Moore.<\/p>\n
\u201cNah, I don\u2019t know about that. The last time I did this in public, my wife kicked me out of the house,\u201d Moore replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo faces,\u201d Pritzker said as they toasted to democracy.<\/p>\n
When a reporter noted that the footage of them taking shots together might turn up in some future campaign where they were running against one another for the White House, Pritzker said that wasn\u2019t going to happen: \u201cIf we were running for something, we\u2019d be running together.\u201d Pritzker said.<\/p>\n
It was another possible combination for 2028 or 2032 ticket for Democrats to consider. But the two governors were done fielding this week\u2019s hypothetical questions about their futures. There would be plenty of time to figure that out later.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
CHICAGO \u2014 It was not yet 9 a.m. Tuesday, but Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was moving fast through the labyrinth of delegate breakfasts at a hotel near the Democratic National Convention. First Tennessee, then Pennsylvania, a sprint downstairs for Wyoming and Montana, then back up to New Mexico and over to North Carolina. In less […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}