U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, in Denver this week to nominate Barack Obama as the Democratic candidate for president, used the word “euphoria” to describe his feeling coming out of his party’s national convention.

He and other delegates were enthused by the raucous atmosphere surrounding Obama’s speech Thursday — a speech that reportedly felt more like a rock concert.

In a phone interview Friday from Denver’s airport, Larsen, D-Wash., dismissed anyone who would criticize the hyped atmosphere at the convention.

“The detractors can call it celebrity. They can call it ‘rock star.’ I guess I would call it, ‘it’s about time that somebody is leading this country that attracts people into public life,’ ” the congressman said.

Larsen insisted the convention had substance as well as style. He became convinced that Obama could promote alternative energy sources, more accessible health care and a safer foreign policy.

“Barack Obama was ... effective in explaining in very clear detail what ‘change’ means,” Larsen said.

Rick Bart, Larsen’s Republican opponent in the congressional elections, said he watched “a little bit” of the television coverage of the Democratic convention Thursday. Bart agreed that pomp is part of any party convention, and he expects to see something similar from the Republicans next week.

Bart disagreed strongly with Larsen’s position that Obama got specific about how change would work.

“He talks about change. I try to listen to it with an open mind, but I’m not hearing specifics. I don’t hear him saying how he’s going to pay for it,” Bart said.

Bart liked Obama’s promise to go over the federal budget line by line to eliminate wasteful spending and took Obama’s pledge as an opportunity to criticize Larsen for his unwillingness to check deficit spending since he was elected in 2000.

“Congress has the power of the purse. Congress is the one who approves the budget. ... What’s he been doing for eight years?” Bart said of Larsen.

Larsen said he and Obama would work to restore the economy, including in Larsen’s 2nd Congressional District that includes Skagit County.

“When it comes to jobs, we’re doing our best to invest in manufacturing jobs here. Part of that is supporting the workers of Boeing and trying to get the tanker contract from the Air Force,” Larsen said. Boeing, which has a manufacturing plant in Everett, has been given a second chance to win the Air Force contract for a refueling plane.

Obama and Larsen agree on services for veterans also, the congressman said.

“We’re going to have an administration next year with President Obama that isn’t going to need to be reminded to look after our vets. Vets in the Northwest can take advantage of that as well,” Larsen said.

Larsen drew a sharp contrast between the two presidential candidates’ choices for running mate. Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, 65, has proven his leadership skills after 36 years in the Senate, Larsen said.

Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin, 44, doesn’t have a track record, he said.

“Honestly, I don’t think anybody knows enough about Gov. Palin to make that assessment, and that’s very problematic and unreassuring for me,” Larsen said.

Bart, on the other hand, was thrilled with McCain’s choice for vice president. Bart liked the fact that she fished, that she supported drilling in Alaska’s protected lands and that she was blue collar.

“She represents a huge part of America that I think has not been represented in Washington, D.C. — working middle-class families, a woman, a mother who’s raising a family who decided to get in the middle of politics and make a change,” Bart said.

“The Democrats are all talking about change. I think the Republicans are going to be doing it,” he added.

The Democrats insist McCain doesn’t represent change but rather four more years of what the country has had for the past eight under George W. Bush.

“We were chanting last night, ‘Eight is enough; eight is enough,’” Larsen said.  “We do not need more of the same, and we are going to get that with John McCain in our economic policy and foreign policy,” Larsen said.

“We cannot afford that. It’s too big of an election.”

• Ralph Schwartz can be reached at 360-416-2138 or .