Regular Roy Gets To Speak at Convention

Chicago Trib: Roy Gross doesn't know exactly what he's going to say next Thursday when he takes the stage at the Democratic National Convention. But the former truck driver from Taylor knows his comments will focus on the woes of the middle class.

Gross got the call last Saturday that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wants to share the stage with him. He'll get three minutes to speak on the night that Obama will formally accept the nomination before 75,000 people at Denver's Invesco Field at Mile High football stadium.

"It's hard to get all of your thoughts into three minutes, but on the other side, I think three minutes will seem like an eternity on that big stage," Gross told The Associated Press Thursday in a phone interview.
....

Gross said he came to the Obama campaign's attention when he introduced the Illinois senator at a May 14 campaign event at Macomb Community College in Warren.

He wrote his own comments then, but said he thought "that they would provide me with a speech so I would say the right things" when he spoke in Denver.

Instead, the Obama campaign told Gross they want convention watchers to hear what he has to say in his own words.

"I find that so great that they would allow a regular working Joe to actually put his thoughts on paper and go up there," he said. "I'm doubly impressed that Senator Obama is going to solicit the opinion of the common, working guy."