Mikulski to nominate Hillary tonight

By Len Lazarick
[email protected] (Originally published by MarylandReporter.com)

PHILADELPHIA — Just between us, Sen. Barbara Mikulski shared with the Maryland delegation to the Democratic National Convention at breakfast Tuesday morning, “Tonight, I will be nominating Hillary.”
“I cannot tell you how touched I am,” said Maryland’s retiring senior senator. She is the longest serving woman ever to serve in Congress and longtime friend of Hillary Clinton.

“I get choked up” just thinking about it, Mikulski said.

She expects to speak at 5 p.m. followed by Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, the longtime civil rights leader. They hope to put Clinton “over the top” in delegate count by 6:30 p.m. in time for the evening news.
“One of the things tonight will be about breaking barriers,” Mikulski said. “We’ve come a long way together.”

“We break barriers not just for ourselves, but for others,” she said.

Sen. Ben Cardin and state party chairman Bruce Poole urged the delegates and guests to work hard to get Clinton elected.

“This is not a slam dunk,” said Cardin. “It’s hard for us to understand why it is not a slam dunk,” running against Donald Trump. “It seems like such a no-brainer.”

Maryland is expecting to remain Democratic, as it has for the last six presidential elections, “and we’ll help surrounding states.”

Cardin, who chairs the Democrats coordinated campaign in Maryland, said they are also going to keep it going for 2018, when all state and local offices will be on the ballot.

“We’re going to win in 2018,” said Cardin, implying that Democrats will take back the governor’s office.
“That’s what this coordinated campaign is about.”