Jefferson-Jackson Dinner 2009: liveblogging, page 5

And now, says Bob Graham, "the next governor of Florida, Alex Sink." Standing ovation, many signs with the new Sink campaign logo. Following are quotes as nearly as I can transcribe them:

It's always good to be with my fellow Democrats, and to be joined here by my wonderful husband Bill [McBride, former gubernatorial candidate himself]. ...This is what it feels like when you begin to change things for the better. Florida was a big part of changing our state and our country in 2008. We fought smart, we fought hard, and we never gave up. 2008's MVPs are all of you who worked so hard ...

Thank you all for giving our state and our country the change that we need. ...As we're giving ourselves pats on the back tonight, let's not rest on our laurels tomorrow. Florida needs your talents and your commitment more than ever now. We face enormous challenges and enormous opportunity, too. In 2010, every statewide office will be open for the first time in 134 years. So, as Democrats, let's seize this historic opportunity!

I would be so honored to have you choose me as the Democratic Party nominee for governor.

This may come as a surprise -- this accent makes it hard to believe -- but I was raised on the family farm. Some of my earliest memories were of my dad getting up before daybreak every morning. We could hear our mother getting up to cook breakfast for our dad, and he then would go out and drive his tractor from sunup to sunset. Our mother taught my sister and me how to cook and sew. But mostly, I learned how to be self-reliant ... and I also learned a love of numbers; not everyone here might love numbers as much as I do, thanks to sitting with my father as he paid the monthly bills. As soon as I got old enough to write in cursive, he let me write the checks ... and I had to balance the checkbook. We had to learn to live within our means. We also rotated the crops and turned the soil.

But state government in Florida hasn't been much like our family farm in recent years. They haven't turned the soil with new leaders; they've only kept the same leaders and rotated the chairs. But our chance to give the state new leadership has finally come. With the challenges we face, the status quo has got to go. It's no longer okay to keep doing things the same old way. Now we need a new and different kind of leadership.

You know, the global financial crisis doesn't feel so global when it affects you at your dinner table. Floridians need a leader, and it's going to take a leader with nearly three decades of business experience to help our economy recover. Politicians talk about wasteful spending without cutting the waste right in front of them ... it's going to take a leader with a track record of holding Tallahassee's feet to the fire to make our government more accountable.

Too often, politicians talk about education without giving our schools what they need to succeed. Our children need better support and attention, and we need a leader who is a working mom to make Florida's schools and children a top priority! For the first time in 12 years, we can have a governor whose own children graduated from Florida's public schools! A PTA mom, a track mom, and a mom who started her children's Math Club at their schools.

What Florida needs even more, though, is the talents of people like you. A governor cannot do it alone. I cannot do it alone. No matter what part of Florida you are from, no matter what party you may be from, I need your help. Talk to your friends ... call your friends ... if you're on Facebook, friend your friends. Every single Floridian has a stake in Florida's future.