Antonio Villaraigosa, the man who will preside over the Democratic National Convention opening in Charlotte, N.C., Tuesday, promised to bring “a lot more beef” to the political conversation with the Democrats’ confab.
“We’ll try to frame what this election is about, the choices before us, what we need to do to keep moving the country forward,” he said. “You won’t see all the Madison Avenue executives that you saw at the last convention that kind of made Gov. Romney warmer and fuzzier. What you will see is a lot more beef. What you’ll hear from us is how we intend to make sure we resolve this economy situation that we’re facing, not by taxing the middle class but by investing in them.”
He also promised the “most diverse” convention of the party’s history.
“I think what you’ll see is the most open and accessible convention,” Villaraigosa said. “You’ll see the faces of America…It’s going to be a broad and diverse convention.”
The Republican convention included a number of minority speakers, including Sen. Marco Rubio who opened for Mitt Romney Thursday night, Artur Davis, congressional candidate Mia Love, and former Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice.
Villaraigosa commented earlier this week that Republicans “can’t just trot out a brown face,” to win over the Latino community, which is currently polling overwhelmingly in favor of President Obama’s re-election, along with African-Americans and women.