美国国家公共电台 NPR Democratic Candidates Descend On California And Offer A Preview Of Fights To Come（在线收听）

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

This weekend, more Democratic candidates for president are gathered in one place than at any other point in the 2020 campaign so far. The speeches to the California Democratic Party's convention offered an early glimpse into this month's first presidential debate. NPR's Scott Detrow reports from San Francisco.

SCOTT DETROW, BYLINE: Most California Democrats are unapologetically progressive, and the delegates and activists who show up to the party's conventions are even more so. As California Congresswoman Barbara Lee put it...

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BARBARA LEE: California Democrats are the most progressive and the most democratic and the wokest (ph) Democrats in the entire country.

DETROW: So there was a lot that presidential candidates, like Senator Kamala Harris, wanted to work in, even as they stared down a strictly enforced seven-minute time limit.

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KAMALA HARRIS: Good morning. Good morning. Come on, guys. Don't eat into my time. I got a clock right in front of me.

DETROW: Harris was one of several candidates to spend a lot of time going after President Trump. She called the campaign a fight for America, criticizing action after action of the Trump White House.

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HARRIS: We need to begin impeachment proceedings, and we need a new commander in chief.

DETROW: Other Democrats told the crowd the party needs to keep the conversation on its own proposals. That was one of two big divides that appeared on the convention stage and that will likely play out at length on the Miami debate stage in a few weeks.

The second offered some of the first signs of candidates criticizing each other. It had to do with an ongoing debate in the party - go big and bold playing to the base or try and appeal to independents and moderates. Senator Elizabeth Warren has made her view clear.

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ELIZABETH WARREN: Big problems call for big solutions.

DETROW: In San Francisco, Warren criticized unnamed Democrats for dreaming small and just waiting for, as she put it, Republicans to come to their senses.

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WARREN: Well, here's the thing. When a candidate tells you about all the things that aren't possible, about how political calculations come first, about how you should settle for little bits and pieces instead of real change, they're telling you something important. They are telling you they will not fight for you.

DETROW: It sounded a lot like criticism of former Vice President Joe Biden's approach to the race and to governing, even if Biden was never directly mentioned. So did this from South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

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PETE BUTTIGIEG: In these times, Democrats can no more keep a promise to take us back to the 2000s or the 1990s than Conservatives can keep a promise to take us back to the 1950s. We can only look forward.

DETROW: Biden has talked a lot about restoring the Obama-Biden administration's policies. He was campaigning in Ohio Saturday, so it was left to former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper to defend incremental approaches and compromising. It didn't go over well.

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JOHN HICKENLOOPER: We shouldn't try to achieve universal coverage by removing private insurance from over 150 million Americans. We should not try to tackle climate change by guaranteeing every American a government job.

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HICKENLOOPER: Hold on. Hold on.

DETROW: For all the debate about proposals, in the end, most Democratic voters tell pollsters they're just looking to get Trump out of office. That's a point Biden made in Ohio, speaking to a Human Rights Campaign dinner. Going point by point through actions the White House has taken that undermined gay, lesbian and transgender rights, Biden said...

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JOE BIDEN: And the fastest way to end it is end the Trump administration.

DETROW: Even more candidates will spend time on the same stage in a few weeks. The difference between the Miami debate and the California convention - then they'll all be onstage together and able to respond to the criticism.

Scott Detrow, NPR News, San Francisco.

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