Political Roundtable: Patrick And Warren At The Democratic National Convention

10:47

September 04, 2012

A man take pictures at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte on Tuesday. (AP/Jae C. Hong)

Governor Deval Patrick

Gov. Patrick, who is set to address the convention Tuesday night, has been one of the busiest surrogates for President Obama recently. He spoke with WBUR's Bob Oakes about the case he'll be making for four more years of Obama as president:

This president has added four and a half million jobs in the last two plus years. That's more jobs than George W. Bush added in eight. He's brought health care to every single American in every corner of the country after 90 years of trying. He's saved the american auto industry, the american financial industry, the American economy from depression, for that matter. It's a long, impressive and frankly barely told record.

Gov. Patrick is also in a position as someone who knows Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts. Though he made a point of saying he'd like to keep things positive, Patrick did share this about his predecessor:

Patrick: I don't that think he is either a moderate or a conservative. I think, in practical terms, he's been more of an opportunist in the sense of having a different thing to say depending on the audience he was in front of.
Oakes: But isn't that kind of a serious negative swipe?
Patrick: Well, that's the truth. And I don't think, by the way, that people in Massachusetts would generally disagree with that. That's been our experience with it.

Elizabeth Warren

Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren will be speaking Wednesday night, another Massachusetts voice playing a prominent role at the convention.

On Tuesday morning, Warren spoke with the Today show and criticized Romney:

When Romney says his plan is to cut taxes for the rich and increase them for the middle class, you better believe I got a problem with that. America's middle class can't stand that anymore. America's middle class has been hammered, squeezed and chipped at for a generation now. It's got to stop.

While Warren plays an active role on the national front, Senator Scott Brown kept some distance from the Republican National Convention last week.

Guests:

Nancy Dwight, former executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee, current chair of Dwight Partners
Susan Tracy, former Democratic state representative, current president of The Strategy Group

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This segment aired on September 4, 2012.