CHICAGO -- Over 300 elected officials from 45 states joined prominent governors, officials, and members of Congress to focus on building a reform agenda worth fighting this weekend in Chicago at the largest gathering of Democratic elected officials outside the Democratic National Convention.

Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) Chair Harold Ford, Jr. and DLC Founder and CEO Al From convened the 2008 National Conversation with elected officials from all levels of government, ranging from state delegate, to governor, to U.S. senator. Participants included Sen. Tom Carper (Del.), Gov. Phil Bredesen (Tenn.), Gov. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Gov. Bill Richardson (N.M.), Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (Kan.), and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.

As an organization dedicated to ideas and problem-solving, the DLC has long called for changing the tone in Washington. The gathering included a series of policy breakouts, speeches, and discussion of the ideas to shape the country's future.

The 2008 campaign offers progressives a historic opportunity to reverse the disastrous policies of the last eight years and put America on a new and fundamentally different course. Speakers at the National Conversation argued that polarization has made our politics dysfunctional and keeps us from solving our common problems. They agreed that the nation needs deep, substantive changes in public policy to revive America's promise of equal and expanding opportunity and to restore our country's standing in world affairs.

Conversation topics included:

• Growth through expanding trade;



• Reform and accountability in education;



• A tough liberalism for a tough world;



• A plan to end poverty as we know it by finishing the job of welfare reform;



• More police to fight crime;



• An end to the incumbency protection racket through competitive redistricting; and,



• A framework to require all Americans to get health insurance and ensure that they can afford it.

DLC Chair Harold Ford, Jr. said at the Conversation today, "The last two days demonstrate that the DLC and Senator Obama will come together to fight for a reform agenda that will restore peace and prosperity to our country."

"The real strength of the Democratic Party is the way we govern," said DLC CEO and Founder Al From, "and this weekend was about building a reform agenda for solving the nation's toughest challenges."

Participants in the National Conversation committed to developing bold ideas for substantive reform, argue their case to the voters, facing down the special interests who oppose change, and building new political coalitions that can break the impasse in Washington.