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The historic events that are unfolding this week at the Democratic National Convention in Denver are a sign of dramatic change that has already occurred in this country.
Not long ago, an African American or a woman never would have been able to climb to these political heights. We had a chance to talk to one person who would know: Senator and former presidential candidate George McGovern.
Monday night we were on the convention floor talking to our delegates and Sen. McGovern walked up. A lot of our Utah delegates stopped to say hello and have their picture taken with him.
McGovern lost in a landslide to Richard Nixon in 1972. Aside from that, he is responsible for convention reform. In other words, it requires a representative number of minority, women and youth delegates from every section of a state's population. He told me that legislation passed nearly 30 years ago enabled these historic moments.
"If we didn't have a crowd like this, I assure you we would not be on the verge of nominating the first black person in American history. And we wouldn't have had the runner-up be a woman, Hillary Clinton," McGovern said.
It was a night of political icons on stage. President Jimmy Carter made an appearance. And Caroline Kennedy paid tribute to her uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy, who himself delivered a rousing speech.
The stage is set for an exciting week for Democrats. We were down on that floor earlier, and the crowd was powerful when Sen. Kennedy spoke. The Democrats really need to keep that momentum going this week if they're going to overcome the polls.
Tuesday night Hillary Clinton will take center stage. It remains to be seen if her appearance here will mend the rift in the Democratic party.
E-mail: rpiatt@ksl.com
