Subject: RE: For Comms Edits: DWS Alaska Convention Speech v2
To: "Miranda, Luis" <[email-masked]>, "Walsh, Tom" <[email-masked]>, "Bonosky, Garret" <[email-masked]>, Tracie Pough <[email-masked]>
Cc: Maureen Garde <[email-masked]>, "Khan, Ali" <[email-masked]>, Guerra, Liana <[email-masked]>, RR2 <[email-masked]>, Kate Houghton <[email-masked]>, "Paustenbach, Mark" <[email-masked]>, Banfill, Ryan <[email-masked]>, "Walker, Eric" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 14 May 2016 06:16:44 -0700

Sorry, couldn't put this in a word doc. My eds below.

DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Remarks – Alaska State Convention

May 14th, 2016 | 10-15 minutes

Intro

Good evening!

Thank you Sheila [Selkregg] for that kind introduction.

Thank you Chairwoman Casey Steinau, and Kay Brown, our Alaska Dems Executive Director, for your leadership and the invitation to be here with Alaska Democrats this evening.

And thank you everyone for your hospitality in welcoming me to "The Last Frontier" [Alaska's nickname].

Let me just start by congratulating all of tonight’s awardees – the legendary Alaskans who will be recognized a little later in the program for their contributions to the State, for shaping its history, and fighting for its future – in some cases even before Alaska became a state…

Champions like Vic Fischer – one of the authors of the state constitution – and his extraordinary wife Jane Angvik, who I know has worked tirelessly to help women campaign for public office.

Let’s give them a hand.

These awardees represent the optimism, enthusiasm, and rugged determination that have given Alaska the special reputation it has across the lower forty-eight.

I hope everyone here will give them the warm reception they deserve in a few minutes.

As chair of the DNC, I’ve committed myself to getting to know my fellow Democrats with visits to all fifty states – and I’ll be honest, it’s been a little easier to reach those lower forty-eight.

So this is my first time visiting Alaska.

And although I’m still in love with my Florida sunshine, I totally get it…

The views from the flight as we landed last evening were simply breathtaking.

This morning I took my daughter, Shelby, who is here with me tonight, on a hike to the Kenai Fjords National Park to see the Harding Icefield.

And while I was disappointed that I couldn’t actually see Russia from there, <pause>

It was absolutely spectacular… if I didn’t have to be back in Washington to make sure our team at the DNC is doing everything possible to keep Donald Trump from painting the White House Gold,

I could easily postpone the long flight home to stay longer and explore.

But I know I’m not the only one here tonight who travelled a great distance to be at the convention – I heard there are even as many as 40 high school students coming all the way from Juneau, and registered to be delegates – let’s give them a hand for being the future of the party.

And let me just thank everyone else here who has travelled from across our country’s largest state to show your support.

Your enthusiasm, energy, your commitment, and your dedication to our party will make all the difference on Election Day.

That’s going to be critical – we cannot take anything for granted, and we must take our opponents seriously from now all the way until November.

And when we unify around our shared goals we will be unstoppable, because we celebrate our diversity. We welcome Americans of every race, gender, religious background – and that means we can all rally around a core of common values.

So I want to talk briefly tonight about what we’re doing at the DNC to make sure all of you have the resources you need to win our fight against Donald Trump here in Alaska, and to win Democratic seats all the way down the ticket on Election Day.

What the DNC Does for Alaska Dems

I became Chair of the DNC in 2011. It was after the rise of the Tea-Party Wave handed us some tough losses in the 2010 election and we lost our majorities in congress.

In fact, since 2008, even though we’ve done a great job of holding on to the White House, we’ve lost 69 House seats, 13 Senate seats, more than 900 state legislative seats, 30 state legislative chambers and 11 governorships.

So at the National Party, I’ve been focused on making sure we’re doing everything we can in every state to make sure that as a party, we aren’t just good at winning presidential races – which we have been for four of the last six races –

We want to make sure we’re good at supporting state parties so they can stop the destruction and obstruction Republicans are so fond of at the state and local level –

Whether that’s cutting benefits for low-income seniors, fighting against the Medicaid expansion, making it harder for families to send their kids to college,

and stifling innovation by cutting scholarships and university funding while subsidizing corporations like you’ve seen Republicans doing here in Alaska,

Or in congress, blocking every piece of legislation at every turn, shutting down the Federal government to the tune of $24 billion as Ted Cruz did, and blocking the Supreme Court nominating process instead of doing their jobs.

So we’re engaged in a 50-state strategy to make sure we hold Republicans in office and in elections accountable.

That means that here in Alaska the DNC helps fund direct the mail campaigns to reach voters and help get them to the polls on Election Day.

We fund salaries for critical staff under our state party partnerships. In fact, Kay Brown can tell you, she was one of the first State Party Partnership employees we ever hired.

Since 2009, the DNC has directly given the Alaska Democratic Party more than $625,000 in direct support.

But it’s not just the funding -- the DNC has been out-pacing the GOP in how we offer direct support to our state parties with training, and bench-building; we share our deep research and communications capabilities in Alaska and across the country.

Since 2013, we have quintupled the size of our digital team, to boost fundraising and provide training and support to our state parties.

We’ve organized a team of experts in messaging, branding, and polling to review the way we communicate, and we’ve built an in-house Communications team to hold Republicans accountable every single day.

We’ve built out a state-of-the-art media monitoring operation to track and inform our rapid response operation.

Our teams are providing training, disseminating best practices, sharing technology and design assets, and building community among State Party staff and the rest of the Democratic family.

And combined with our national, state-of-the-art voter file, which we’ve been building out for years, we have real edge that’s going to help carry us to victory.

And we’ve done it all while paying off more than $20 million in debt from winning the 2012 presidential election.

Our Candidates

But of course, our number one advantage comes from our candidates, and the contrast they’re offering Alaska voters and the American people.

I couldn’t be more proud of the two candidates at the top of our ticket.

From Day One, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have been running smart, substantive campaigns focused on the issues that matter to voters.

We’ve watched them engage honestly with voters, answer thoughtfully at town halls and debates, and deliver an aspirational message that speaks to the hopes and dreams of the American people…

And no matter which one of our candidates becomes the nominee, we will be united coming out of our convention and headed toward Election Day.

In the words of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders “Trump will not be president.”

Trump

So, can we talk about "the Donald" - the big red king crab at the top of the GOP ticket that Alaska Democrats are going to cook in November.

As much as he makes for an easy punchline, let me be clear: at the DNC we are not going to make the same mistake the other Republican candidates made.

We’re ready for Mr. Trump.

Ready to hold him accountable for the damage he’s doing as a candidate and the damage he’s promising he would do as president.

And while some of the Republican elites will try to tell you that Trump is hijacking their Party, that’s not true.

His primary victory was years in the making.  The GOP set the stage for “The Rise of Trump” with years of divisive, hateful rhetoric.

• When Republican leaders plotted to block President Obama’s progress at every turn on Inauguration Day in 2009, they set the stage for Trump.

• When Mitch McConnell said that his primary goal was to make Barack Obama a one-term president, they set the stage for Trump.

• When Republicans in Congress voted more than 60 times to take away healthcare from millions of people, when they shut down the federal government costing us twenty-four billion dollars, when they relied on dog-whistle politics to inflame the electorate, they set the stage for Trump.

Before that, Republicans used affirmative action as their wedge issue in 2002.

In 2004 it was gay marriage. In 2005 they tried to criminalize the families of immigrants and even clergy, and they have been blocking a fix to the broken immigration system in Congress ever since.

So even though during their primary GOP leaders like Mitt Romney stepped out of the shadows to say things like, and I’m quoting:

“Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University… His domestic policies would lead to recession. His foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president. And his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill…”

Even then… it doesn’t change the fact that Republicans are still going to do everything in their power to prevent our nominee from winning.

Just this week, Trump met with Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell to show that despite their nasty, mud-slinging primary, they’re getting ready to sing “kumbaya” and give us everything they’ve got.

And what they’ve got is the same old playbook: the same failed trickle-down economic policies that preceded the Great Recession under the last Republican president.

So Trump isn’t something new – he’s just the old Republican brand with a little extra bronzer on –

He only looks out for himself. He lacks the temperament and judgment to be commander in chief. And every aspect of his presidency would harm our country and damage our standing in the world.

Even as a candidate, Trump has damaged America’s relationships across the globe. In the White House, he would make America less safe.

He has no foreign policy experience – but don’t worry about that - he said he’ll rely on his “good brain,” instead of listening to experts.

He has a decades-long record of denigrating women. Seven out of ten women disapprove of his candidacy.

He exploits racial anxieties and cultural fears to the point where his rallies have sparked violence against people of color, protestors, and the media.

Recent reports found that bullying at schools is on the rise as a result of his hateful rhetoric. He’s making our communities less safe and he hasn’t even gotten into office.

And while he tries to paint a picture of his wealth and business success, his record is riddled with examples that he prefers to turn a quick buck even when it comes at the expense of workers.

But even the same old playbook is one that gave George W. Bush two terms, so we have to treat Trump’s candidacy as a real threat because it is!!!

Conclusion

The good news is that as Democrats, we’re giving voters a clear choice.

Our two candidates continue to campaign with the seriousness and depth of knowledge that voters deserve on issues that matter to hardworking American families.

We’ve had 74 months of private sector job growth under President Obama, 20 million more people have health insurance who didn’t before, and our candidates have ideas for building on that progress.

They have ideas for how to increase wages for hard-working Americans.

They have ideas for fixing our broken immigration system that don’t feature insulting and degrading relations with one of our strongest allies and economic partners.

They have discussed the importance of ensuring every child in America gets an education that makes them and our nation more competitive, expanding opportunity and giving everyone a fair shot.

And on the campaign trail, the substance gap between our policies and the GOP’s isn’t our only advantage – the fact that our candidates have kept up their energetic campaigns means we’ve built an enthusiasm gap that’s going to carry us through November.

With the edge we’ve worked to build from our national party through our state parties when it comes to data analytics, means the down-ballot impact on our House Senate state and local races has the potential to be tremendous.

But most importantly, no component of a political campaign has ever been more important than party unity and Get-Out-The-Vote participation on the ground.

I know I’m preaching to the choir a little here, but we need every resource to win this. Every vote, every phone call. We need people knocking on doors and spreading the word that the consequences this November will be enormous.

I’m inspired here tonight – I wish everyone could see how much dedication the delegates of Alaska have.

Don’t let anyone you know believe for a second that just because the pundits like to paint Alaska red and say it isn’t a battleground state means you’re sidelined.

In every presidential election since 2000, the percentage of Alaskans casting their vote for the Democrat has increased – from 27% in 2000 to more than 40% in 2012.

This has already been a historic election year nationally – and with your help, I know we can Dump Trump and turn Alaska Blue.

I know we can count on you to keep working hard throughout this election.

So thank you for all you’ve done to support our party, and thank you for everything you will do to bring us all the way to victory in November.

Thank you for your hospitality tonight.

Now on to victory! Thank you, Alaska Democrats!

________________________________
From: Miranda, Luis
Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2016 9:09 AM
To: Walsh, Tom; Bonosky, Garret; Tracie Pough
Cc: Maureen Garde; Khan, Ali; Guerra, Liana; RR2; Kate Houghton; Paustenbach, Mark; Banfill, Ryan; Walker, Eric
Subject: RE: For Comms Edits: DWS Alaska Convention Speech v2

my edits.
________________________________
From: Walsh, Tom
Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2016 8:53 AM
To: Bonosky, Garret; Tracie Pough
Cc: Maureen Garde; Miranda, Luis; Khan, Ali; Guerra, Liana; RR2; Kate Houghton; Paustenbach, Mark; Banfill, Ryan; Walker, Eric
Subject: RE: For Comms Edits: DWS Alaska Convention Speech v2

Attached with that note removed.

From: Bonosky, Garret
Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2016 8:39 AM
To: Tracie Pough
Cc: Maureen Garde; Walsh, Tom; Miranda, Luis; Khan, Ali; Guerra, Liana; RR2; Kate Houghton; Paustenbach, Mark; Banfill, Ryan; Walker, Eric
Subject: Re: For Comms Edits: DWS Alaska Convention Speech v2

Leave it out for now and resend please. I won't have access to computer for about 6 hours or so

Garret Bonosky
Deputy Director
Office of the Chair
Democratic National Committee

On May 14, 2016, at 4:36 AM, Tracie Pough <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>> wrote:
If we aren't sure leave it out. Garret you can also ask Shana.

- TP

On May 14, 2016, at 7:57 AM, Maureen Garde <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>> wrote:
The Party Chair is Casey.

On May 14, 2016, at 7:47 AM, "Bonosky, Garret" <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>> wrote:
That's wrong. I believe it was the Alaska state Democratic Party chair Casey Steinau

Garret Bonosky
Deputy Director
Office of the Chair
Democratic National Committee

On May 14, 2016, at 3:46 AM, Walsh, Tom <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>> wrote:
Version 2 attached with Tracie’s edits. I also added more of the Trump framework starting on page 19.

Can someone confirm Tracie’s page-1 note about Sheila Selkregg recovering from a coma?

From: Walsh, Tom
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2016 7:46 PM
To: Miranda, Luis; Paustenbach, Mark; Walker, Eric; Banfill, Ryan
Cc: RR2; Tracie Pough; Khan, Ali; Maureen Garde; Kate Houghton
Subject: For Comms Edits: Draft DWS Alaska Convention Speech

Sharing with RR2 as well so they can get started on review
<DWS Alaska State Convention Speech v2(TPedit).docx>