...by 1976, as a senator, he’d been elevated to floor manager and surrogate for Jimmy Carter, whom he’d been quick to endorse. His role expanded four years later, allocated an early-in-the-evening speaking slot.

The national media paid his speech little mind. But delegates from his home state were impressed. They held up a sign reading “Biden in ’84,” encouraging him to run for the White House.

“If I wanted it, I think I could take it,” he told the Wilmington Morning News.

But he didn’t want it, he insisted, and would attend the 1984 convention not as a nominee but simply as a participant.

read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/18/politics/biden-dnc-over-the-years/index.html

“The one thing you can always count on — a lot of times in history, you can count on the sun rising in the east and setting in the west, and you can count on white politicians coming to Black communities to ask for their vote,” the Minnesota governor told a rowdy crowd that remained on its feet throughout his brief remarks.

“What’s different this time,” Walz continued, “is, we have a Black woman gonna lead us.”

“Look, we understand something that we grew up hearing about: towards a more perfect union, strong and decent nations acknowledge their past: the good, the bad and the ugly that goes with it. We acknowledge it because it lets us chart a course for the future. Those guys are taking us back,” he said, referring to Republicans aligned with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. “We’re not going back.”

Walz said: “We’re going forward in a country where everybody matters, everybody’s got a chance. Everybody can see generational wealth, everybody can get access to capital to start their small business and a recognition that the systemic and historic barriers that were put in place in front of Black communities have stopped that movement.”

And he responded to the Trump team’s apparent disdain for the “joy” Harris has brought to her campaign: “They can say whatever they want; you know the only time they laugh is at someone less fortunate than them. They see our most vulnerable citizens as scapegoats and punchlines for their jokes. We see them as neighbors and people who deserve to have respect.”

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/08/19/dnc-live-updates-coverage/walzs-cbc-stop-00174622