Left In Lowell

On Saturday’s Democratic convention, a big highlight was watching Worcester hometown boy Lt. Gov. Tim Murray and Governor Deval Patrick’s speeches. As I said on Saturday (in tweets) I thought they really made the case for four more years.

First, let’s just pause for a second and savor the words, “reelection.” How long has it been since we heard those words? A Governor who wants to stick around. The pundits were dead wrong; Patrick did NOT take a job in the Obama White House, though no one could have blamed him if he had. He’s staying around, despite the not-so-pleasant situation this nation has found itself in.

But more than that, these speeches put into stark reality what accomplishments this team has made, how much better off we are today than we were, even with the recession (97% health coverage, 19,000 new jobs in April, #1 in education in the country!) and how much there is left to do. These speeches really made the case for four more years of Patrick/Murray.

I had both of these recorded in the Evo (having been too scared to stream to Qik lest it goof up) but the official recordings are much better so I’ll just embed those below. You can also find the “video introductions” for both speeches at the campaign website, and they’re good (cameo from the famous Kate D).

First, Lt. Governor Murray:

And you have to watch the whole of Governor Patrick’s speech, it was astounding:

Governor Patrick will be in Lowell today, and his office offered me a chance to sit down with him afterwaryd, and even, to stream the interview live online! He is in town for the groundbreaking of the Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center at UMass Lowell (the nanotech center) on north campus. The event takes place at 11am, so the sit down will be some time after that (I’ll get more precise times and post them here and on Twitter).

FINAL Update: Here are the permanent videos for your enjoyment:
UMass Lowell Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center groundbreaking speeches (well, most of them):

The groundbreaking ceremony itself:

Interview with Governor Patrick on innovation, jobs, and a few other subjects: