The Best Massachusetts Moments of the DNC

It wouldn't be a DNC without Massachusetts showing off its Democratic Party bonafides.
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Surely you remember day one of the convention, a big night for Massachusetts Democrats that saw our mayor make a bold statement about his sobriety and a primetime address from Elizabeth Warren.

But here are some other highlights that you might have missed.

‘We own the finish line.’

Vice President Joe Biden slipped in a nod to Boston at the end of his speech Wednesday night when he declared: “We are America, second to none. And we own the finish line. Don’t forget it!”

The line is a reference to Biden gave in the city two years ago to mark the one-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings.

“We will never cower,” he said at the time. “We are Boston. We are America. We respond, we endure, we overcome, and we own the finish line.”

Maura Healey doubles down on assault weapons

While back at home the move was getting an angry response from gun rights groups and top politicians, Maura Healey’s proposal to crack down on “copycat” assault rifles was received warmly in Philadelphia.

“The action we took was about closing the loophole, making clear that people understood the law, and making clear that people understood that we were going to enforce the law,” Healey told reporters on Monday. She also sat on a gun regulation panel with Mark Kelly, the astronaut married to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a shooting in 2011.

Guvs vs. the Donald

Speaking at a breakfast gathering, Deval Patrick and Mike Dukakis both took the opportunity to lob insults at the GOP and their nominee.

Patrick said he’s “appalled” by Trump.

“The guy’s a screwball,” said Dukakis. He likes the “screwball” line.

Breakfast with Bernie

Surprise! Bernie Sanders stopped by unannounced to greet Massachusetts Democrats over breakfast on Wednesday and make the case for the Clinton presidency.

“Trump is a demagogue,” Sanders said. “We all have Republican friends, and we’ve disagreed with them, but most of them happen to believe in the Constitution of the United States of America. Trump does not, and that’s not Bernie Sanders’ view, that is the view of many Republicans.”

Elizabeth Warren Gives a PowerPoint presentation

Hearkening back to her professorial days, Sen. Elizabeth Warren treated convention-goers to “a slick 40-minute PowerPoint presentation on how and why the US economy is failing American working families — and, of course, how to fix it,” reports the Boston Globe.

Just to bring it on home, check out the visual aid she used in said slideshow, per the New York Times:

Another graphic demonstrating income inequality showed a scale with a Boston Red Sox baseball cap representing the bottom 90 percent of earners on the lower end, and a top hat representing the top 10 percent at the higher end. Per Professor Warren: In 1980, 90 percent of Americans got 70 percent of all new wealth generated. In 2016, the same share of Americans received less than 1 percent of the new wealth generated.

Michelle Obama’s speechwriter gets some recognition

Remember, behind every speech there’s always a speechwriter. And there’s always a Massachusetts angle. Wayland native and Harvard grad Sarah Hurwitz got some recognition this week for her role penning Michelle Obama’s well-received speech this week.

Bill Weld swoops in

In the midst of all the convention-ing, former governor and current candidate for vice president Bill Weld showed up to offer his take on Clinton’s nomination.

Weld, who also this week called Trump a “malignant narcissist,” appeared in Philadelphia to “help mark the occasion for my old friend Hillary and her historic achievement,” he told WGBH’s Jim Braude.

Jill Stein does, too

Jill Stein, the Green Partier from Lexington and perennial third party candidate, also appeared at the convention, but for less supportive reasons. Accompanied by a Fox Business new crew, she marched through the Wells Fargo Center – a spectacle designed to court spurned Bernie supporters.

WGBH’s Adam Reilly caught up with her for an impromptu interview:

The Boston Globe’s Yvonne Abraham was not impressed, calling her campaigning a “new low” in a column on Thursday.

“Stein is encouraging voters to let the perfect be the enemy of the sane,” Abraham wrote.

Nothing Stops Etta Goodstein

Before the convention, the 63-year-old Cape Cod resident and DNC delegate was in hospice care battling cancer. But nothing was going to keep her out of Philadelphia and away from the historic nomination, Goodstein said in an interview with All Things Considered.

“I’m a little fatigued, but I’m here,” she said. “I have said to people, including family members, that I would rather die on the floor of the convention than to miss this. I need to be that witness in history, for my soul.”

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