Madrid Addresses Convention Tonight.

Though much of the convention here in Denver comes down to theater, Patricia Madrid hopes that doesn't obscure the policy platform. She speaks at Pepsi Center tonight just after 4pm.

I ran into her at the Crown Plaza just after her media training. She tells me the DNC is providing four tele-prompters and her speech on the platform will run about seven minutes

"I get very annoyed when people like Ralph Nader say there's no difference between Republicans and Democrats," said Madrid. Back in January, Howard Dean nominated three co-chairs — Madrid, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Judith McHale, the former president and chief executive of Discovery Communications — to the 187-member platform committee.

The process was opened up to the public in unprecedented ways, Madrid said, noting that more than 1,600 groups from around the country conducted discussions or hearings on the Democratic agenda. The mass of ideas were culled together by the drafting committee, which divvied up issues and whittled them down. Then Madrid and her two co-chairs presided over a one-day hearing of the committee in Cleveland, and final tweaks were made in Pittsburgh early this month.

Madrid, the former attorney general for New Mexico, came close to unseating Republican Rep. Heather Wilson last election. She lost by a razor-thin margin and has since been mentioned as a possible gubernatorial candidate for 2010, when Gov. Bill Richardson's final term will be up. Now that her convention work is complete, she says she will dedicate herself to campaigning for Obama in New Mexico, a battleground state.

Photo Credit: MG Bralley