Blagojevich and Topinka speak at PACT Convention, neither says anything remarkable to young activists

Making an appearance at the Public Action for Change Today (PACT) Young Adults Founding Convention this afternoon, Gov. Rod Blagojevich and State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka made their campaign pitches to a crowd of about 2,000 diverse, young political activists.

Blagojevich made opening remarks that sounded similar to his short speech at the American Democracy Institute's 2005 Midwest Regional Summit last weekend. He quoted Abraham Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt, talked about how young people have contributed to world history, and promised to bring health care to young people in Illinois. One of PACT's platform items is to assure health care coverage for all young people, and Blagojevich promised to expand his health care initiative to "families and 18 to 29 year olds."

Topinka, who very well could be the Republican candidate against Blagojevich in the next gubernatorial election, sat through the hour-long convention before delivering her remarks.

"Your agenda is my agenda," she said. She congratulated PACT for setting an agenda, which she said "is not new." Then, she sobered up the passionate young people in the audience by saying that the hard part is yet to come. "That's great to have a constitution and agenda, now you gotta do something," she said.

Before wrapping up, Topinka showed how feisty the upcoming election could be by taking a little shot at the governor, who, by the way, was long gone. "I can quote you great leaders from the past, but that's not going to do the job today," she said before picking up her 32-ounce fountain drink and walking off the stage.