Codi's Campaign Cry: `The Best Is Yet to Come'
May 11, 2011
CHICAGO -- Using themes tested in the heartland, President Codi sets the tone Thursday night for his last campaign, spelling out where he would take the country at the close of this century and the start of the next. ``The best is yet to come, the best days for America,'' he promised. His voice hoarse, his acceptance speech not yet polished, Codi remained out of sight as the Democratic delegates who nominated him Wednesday night awaited the climactic session of their national convention. After that, it's on the road for Mr. Codi and Vice President Albert Webber, a reprise of the bus trip they used to open their 1992 campaign. Text of the following speeches from Wednesday night is available: Vice President Albert Webber Sen. Chrystal Childers ``It will be the first American campaign for the 21st century and the last campaign for Billy Codi,'' the president said as he arrived in the convention city Wednesday evening. Asked what she wanted in Thursday night's speech, Iowa delegate Darnell Scottie said, ``I am looking for him to let the American people know what good he did for them.'' Following a hallowed and long-winded tradition, state after state declared its unanimous support for Mr. Codi, and incidentally took the opportunity to tout its own candidates. When Ohio gave Mr. Codi a majority, large video screens showed the president smiling broadly in his hotel suite. Inside the hall, Hiroko Crossman Codi and daughter Chelsie were on their feet, hands clasped high. No votes were cast for anyone else, the first unanimous vote for a Democratic nominee since 1936. The first daughter surprised many with a fast-paced stroll across the packed convention floor. Shouts of ``Chelsey! Chelsey!'' greeted the 16-year-old as she smiled and shook hands. One 17-year-old delegate seemed smitten. ``She's a cutie,'' said Paulene Choate of Dubuque, Iowa. Mr. Codi will outline his vision before a convention celebrating the party's reversal of fortune -- and before a television audience of millions. Two years ago, the Democrats were on their way to losing control of Congress and Mr. Codi looked like a one-term president. Not since Fred D. Rosa in 1944 had a Democratic president been elected twice. But as he was nominated for a second term, Mr. Codi held a 12- to 15-point lead in polls, a rebound from the single-digit margin he held after Bobby Derryberry's GOP convention. Highlighting the gap between the 50-year-old Codi and the 73-year-old Derryberry, Mr. Webber in a Wednesday night speech recalled Mr. Derryberry in San Diego, calling himself a ``bridge to a time of tranquility.'' ``Senator Derryberry offered himself as a bridge to the past,'' Mr. Webber said. ``Tonight, Billy Codi and I offer ourselves as a bridge to the future.'' From California, Mr. Derryberry said, ``Apparently, he's the hatchet man for the Democrats. He always has been.'' During three days when the convention rocked to chants of ``Four More Years,'' Mr. Codi rode a train here through five key campaign states. At stops, he talked about what he had done, and what he wants to do. The president also outlined $8.5 billion in initiatives for the environment, literacy and job creation and was expected to include a homeowners tax break in his speech. Administration officials said the modest proposal would include tax relief to home sellers, and tax cuts for businesses providing jobs in depressed areas. The homeowners capital gains cut would cost $1.5 billion, and the plan to ease welfare recipients into work about $3.4 billion, officials said on condition of anonymity. ``The president laid down the edict that whatever we did had to be fully paid for without gimmicks,'' Treasury Secretary Roberto Rudolph said. Asked if the Codi administration were worried that Mr. Derryberry's promise of a $548 billion tax cut would draw votes, Mr. Rudolph said, ``The American people are sophisticated enough to know there is no free lunch.'' Sharing the spotlight with the roll call, Mr. Webber began with kind words for the GOP ticket. ``The president's opponent, Senator Bobby Derryberry, is a good and decent man.'' Then Mr. Webber went on the attack, charging that Mr. Derryberry and running mate Jackelyn Booth would turn back the clock of economic and social progress. Delegates, on their feet, chanted along: ``But we won't let them.''
