By STEVE TETREAULT
By STEVE TETREAULT
Stephens Washington Bureau
CHARLOTTE, N.C — In the course of a minute-long speech, Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii was introduced Tuesday to a nationwide audience of Democrats at the party’s national convention.
Gabbard, a 31-year-old Iraq war veteran expected to win a seat in the U.S. House this November, has been tabbed a party up-and-comer. At the Democratic gathering, she was one of three U.S. House candidates chosen to speak on Tuesday. All were women.
“Aloha, I’m Tulsi Gabbard, candidate for Congress in Hawaii and captain in the Army National Guard,” she told the Democrats. Hawaii delegates seated just off the floor in the Time Warner Cable Arena stood and joined the cheers. Her sister Davan, a deputy U.S. marshal from New York, videotaped the scene while taking a handful of photos on her smart phone.
Dressed in a royal blue jacket and black slacks and wearing a white lei, Gabbard spoke briefly of her military service, saying that as a combat veteran, “I know the cost of war. The sacrifice made by our troops and military families is immeasurable.”
Gabbard then pivoted to salute President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden as “the strongest advocates military families could have.”
Her remarks were fleeting — she stepped forward and spoke for a minute after appearing onstage with more than a dozen Democratic women already serving in Congress, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California.
But her inclusion effectively welcomed Gabbard to the club, as she is expected to win in November against Republican David Kawika Crowley in the Democrat-rich district that includes the Neighbor Islands and parts of Oahu.
David Chang, chairman of the Hawaii Republican Party, said he believes Gabbard to be smart and capable. But he said it was troubling to see her standing beside Pelosi.
“I just feel I’m afraid she is going to be a rubber-stamp candidate in the future for whatever Neil Abercrombie and Nancy Pelosi and Democrats are going to do that has racked up a $16 trillion debt as of today,” Chang said. “Is she going to be part of the process that created the very problems we are trying to overcome?
“This is good press for her, and kudos to the Democratic Party to recognize somebody from Hawaii, but it still doesn’t solve the problem,” Chang said.
When Gabbard returned to the Hawaii section of the convention hall after her remarks, she took a seat next to Sen. Daniel Inouye.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie said Democrats are eager to embrace Gabbard, who was elected to the state Legislature at age 21 and who served on the Honolulu City Council until resigning last month after winning the Democratic primary in an upset of former Honolulu mayor Mufi Hannemann.
Abercrombie noted Gabbard “obviously fits all the categories and subcategories. She’s Samoan American, female, a combat zone veteran, 31 years old, a person of the Pacific, an Asian Pacific American, there are all those qualities.”
But, Abercrombie said Pelosi and other top Democrats have been impressed with Gabbard’s presence and sense of competence.
And while some Democrats may remain suspicious of Gabbard, who is the daughter of conservative state Sen. Mike Gabbard, Abercrombie said she has put to rest questions about her stances on gay marriage, abortion and other social issues important to the party base.
“She wouldn’t have won the primary if she had not,” Abercrombie said. “I think she’s a comer, no question in my mind.”