Larsen taking care of business amid convention

By Bryan Bissell, PolitickerWA.com Reporter

DENVER - Here in Denver, the Democrats have been busy. Not just schmoozing, voting and listening to speeches, either. U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Arlington) has been using some of the time to get ready to go back to Congress.

Not that speeches and votes aren't important.

"I called home immediately to my mom in Arlington, WA and asked what she was thinking," Larsen said after Obama was officially nominated Wednesday, "and she said this is going to be the best team and the best ticket ever, so there is a lot of excitement out there.

"Biden was humble, he was tender, and he took the wood to Sen. McCain just like he was supposed to," he added about the vice presidential nominee's speech.

"The main job is to nominate Barack Obama," Larsen said of the convention, "but I've been able to actually get some work done, too."

Larsen sits on the transportation committee back in D.C. and has been meeting with fellow U.S. Representative to get a transportation bill ready that he says will create thousands of jobs in Washington state.

Yesterday he took part in a roundtable with leaders from across country discussing how to finance and fix the nation's transportation system and said that congress could very well pass a bill where every billion that goes into transportation projects creates 47,000 jobs.

"Jobs is number one for Dempocrats," Larsen said, especially, he mentioned, after eight years of George Bush.

He also feels that this trend of having working conventions is a positive one.

"I think they have been effective," he said of the many forums in Denver. "Some of the drama has been taken out of the convention in the past 40 to 50 years so it really becomes an opportunity to get grassroots activists excited. So doing these issues forums around the convention, I think, is a new approach to use these conventions to educate folks on issues facing the country."

Larsen said that the excitement around Obama has helped the forums' success, too, because "everybody is here in Denver". He also talked to former Rep. Dick Gephardt , who told Larsen that these forums have never been like this before, and Larsen hopes it is a trend that continues well into the future.

FOR FULL CONVENTION COVERAGE from PolitickerWA.com click here.

Bryan Bissell is a PolitickerWA.com Reporter and can be reached via email at noreply@politicker.com.

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