Lincoln to talk up health care at Dem. convention, AR

Lincoln to talk up health care at Dem. convention

By ANDREW DeMILLO

Published August 22, 2008 at 3:45 p.m.
Updated August 22, 2008 at 4:13 p.m.

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LITTLE ROCK (AP) _ Sen. Blanche Lincoln will share the stage with seven other female senators at next week's Democratic National Convention in what will amount to a preview of an address by the party's most popular woman — Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Lincoln said she'll talk about an issue close to Clinton's heart, health care, when she addresses the convention Tuesday as part of a "Checklist for Change" presentation by the Senate's Democratic women.

"It's a crisis situation, not just for people and quality of life, but also for our economy and a whole host of other things," Lincoln said. "We see it as mothers and daughters and as wives and as legislators. It is just critically important that this be one of the priority issues for us as Democrats and as a nation."

Lincoln, a superdelegate who endorsed Clinton after Arkansas' primary, said she thinks it's significant that the group of women senators will speak hours before Clinton takes the stage. Lincoln as well as the state's other top Democrats quickly announced their support for likely nominee Barack Obama after Clinton dropped out of the race.

"Sen. Clinton has had a passion for solving the health-care crisis for years, long before she was in the United States Senate," Lincoln said. "She continues to bring it up as a priority issues, which is huge."

The other senators speaking Tuesday will be Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, Barbara Boxer of California, Maria Cantwell of Washington, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan.

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On the Net:

Democratic Women for Change: http://democrats.senate.gov/checklistforchange/

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