CLEVELAND –

The Democratic Party’s Platform Drafting Committee began their meetings to write the DNC platform today. It will be composed over the weekend and then will go before the full platform committee next week in Pittsburgh before being voted on at the Democratic National Convention at the end of August in Denver.

During past elections, the committee held meetings in a few cities on platform ideas, but the Democrats did it differently this year to get the most input from Americans all over the country, “Unlike in the past, for the first time this year we’ve had 1,600 platform meetings in the 50 states,” Committee Chairwoman and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano said. Other committee members include Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Obama Foreign Policy advisor Susan Rice, Former Health Care advisor to President Clinton Chris Jennings, and seventeen others.

Over the almost five-hour session committee members heard from 34 groups that voiced their suggestions for the platform ranging from organizations representing health care reform, economic concerns, labor unions, energy and climate change, minority issues, the war in Iraq and veteran’s concerns, women’s reproductive rights, amongst others. Organizations included the AARP, Economic Policy Institute, AFL-CIO, U.S. Climate Action Network, Planned Parenthood, National Jewish Democratic Council, Arab American Institute among many others.

Several of the committee members were at the DNC’s testy Rules and Bylaws Committee at the end of May and even though both former Clinton backers and Obama supporters were in attendance the committee came together and seemed united to listen to platform ideas and help elect Senator Barack Obama. There was none of the in fighting that was openly on display at the RBC.

The committee chairwoman is the Governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano, whose constituent is Arizona Senator and Obama rival, Senator John McCain. Several of the speakers took jabs at McCain during their briefings.

Health care was one of the most talked about issue at the meeting and health care reform that provides “affordable, quality health care for all” was pressed as one of the most important elements to the draft:

“There is no silver bullet in health care. It is going to require that everyone: individuals, employers, insurers, health care providers and government step up to the plate and try to figure out how we can get this solution done,” Jeanne Lambrew from the Center for American Progress told the committee, “Now despite the good news of this consensus, the bad news is that the current president and his chosen successor do not share this vision. What we are seeing from Senator McCain is a plan that would take away the choice of employer based coverage putting millions of people at risk of trying to find coverage in the individual market where you can be denied coverage.”

Click above to see the web ad that the Democratic National Committee released today. Keep reading to learn more about it.

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Pittsburgh, PA — Sen. Hillary Clinton used some of her most direct language yet Thursday as she attacked Sen. Barack Obama for what she sees is his non-effort to resolve the Florida and Michigan primary conundrum.

“He doesn’t want the votes to count, lets not mince words here. Senator Obama has been very, very clear ‘do not count those votes, or come up with some kind of resolution that disenfranchises people by taking away their right to have voted for whom they have voted for and neither of those is acceptable to Michigan and Florida voters and I wouldn’t agree with that either,” she said during a media availability Thursday. “I did agree with a total re-vote and just throw it up in the air and see what happens and he wouldn’t do that.”

Asked if she planned to propose her own solution for ensuring that Florida and Michigan Democrats have a role in determining the ultimate Democratic nominee she said her campaign does not intend to offer a plan–outlining a potential battle at the Democratic Convention this summer.

“If it has to go to a credentials committee, then it has to go to a credentials committee, that’s what they are there for, you know, they’ve had to resolve credentialing and rules fights in the past and they will have to resolve this one,” she said.

The DNC stripped Florida and Michigan of their convention delegates last year after both states moved up their primaries and conflicted with the planned party voting schedule. Clinton won both state primaries (though she was the only major candidate on the MI ballot and no campaigning took place in FL) giving the Democratic underdog an opportunity to have a chance at catching up in the popular vote and delegate battle if she wins the fight to have both states represented at the summer convention.

During her press conference today, she couched the vote counting battle in language that slammed her own party for what she sees as a lackadaisical effort to resolve the primary dispute.

“I really don’t understand why the Republican party very clearly decided what they were going to do and the Democratic party can’t decide. I also don’t understand how you can disenfranchise voters in two states you have to try to win. I don’t think that is smart for the Democratic party,” she said. “This continuing call on my part (to count the votes) ….is in the best interest of the Democratic party.”