Doyle promotes Obama's clean energy job plan

Gov. Jim Doyle followed U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy's lead during his turn at the podium of the Democratic National Convention Tuesday evening, evoking former President John F. Kennedy when discussing Barack Obama's economic initiatives.

"Democrats, this is our time to revive the spirit of Kennedy that brought so many of us into public service and together here in this great hall," Doyle said. "We are ready to move past eight years of an economic doctrine that favors the rich and ignores the rest."

Doyle took the stage in the Pepsi Center just before 5 p.m. MDT to address Tuesday's convention theme, "Renewing America's Promise." Doyle said Americans, and Wisconsinites in particular, continue to work hard despite "finding their dreams further and further out of reach."

Doyle illustrated the potential for Obama's commitment to "green economy" jobs by relating his trip to Antigo-based Merit Gear, which received a $250,000 grant from the state Department of Commerce during Doyle's "Up North" tour last week.

The company has announced plans for a $23.6 million expansion in Antigo. Doyle praised the transition Merit Gear has made to manufacturing gears for windmills in his speech.

"Their largest and most highly-engineered gears are turning inside the generators of windmills," Doyle said. "The boom at Merit Gear can happen in factories and towns everywhere. But that will only happen if we have a president committed to investing in education, job training and low taxes for clean energy innovators."

Doyle quipped that his family was among the first to endorse Obama -- "about five minutes into the keynote speech he delivered four years ago" -- and pledged to work his hardest for the Illinois senator over the remainder of the campaign.

"I'll work for Barack Obama so that all of our children and grandchildren know what it means to have a president who works for us," Doyle said.


Read Doyle's prepared remarks


-- By Andy Szal