This afternoon I attended the event at the Sherman Event Center. The lines were two blocks long around the corner. More than 1200 people packed the main upstairs room. Senator Obama met with a small group of people and then went upstairs to address the enthusiastic crowd. As he said to me, he is drawing a lot of new people into the Democratic party. And my response was that there are lots of young people in this audience. As the chair of the party I will remain uncommitted, but it is good to see the excitement in the room.

Following this event, Jim Crowe hosted a fundraiser for the Senator’s presidential campaign. About 240 people attended the event and raised over $500,000 for the Obama for President campaign. I particularly enjoyed is comments about the fact that politics is not a game. We are dealing with the lives of real people throughout the country. They have hopes and aspirations. We are responsible for finding solutions.

We look forward to the dialogue ahead as the candidates for president visit the state of Colorado.

Larimer County hosted its annual dinner in Fort Collins last night. It started with the Century Club where a room full of people chatted with Sen. Bob Bacon, former Sen. Peggy Reeves, Gov. Bill Ritter, U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, former state Rep. Angie Paccione and her successor state Rep. Randy Fischer. Various candidates for city council were there, as well as our friends from the Northern Colorado Labor Council.

It was a multi-faceted dinner. Governor Ritter gave a short speech before flying off to El Paso County for their dinner. Like in Pueblo the night before, he talked about the accomplishments of the governor and the legislature. He particularly discussed renewable energy and the package of legislation that was just passed by the state house and senate.

After Adam Bowen, the new chair of the Larimer County Democratic Party, made introductions of all the local and other officials in the room, Sen. Bob Bacon introduced one of the keynote speakers, Congressman Mark Udall. Rep. Udall made a moving speech about the need for Western leadership and what that meant. He stressed our independence and our understanding of the relationship to the land and the environment. Rep. Udall, most significantly, confirmed that he is a candidated for the U.S. Senate in 2008. While we all expected to hear this soon, he received a standing ovation.

Dani Newsum, who has become an annual attendee, like myself, of the Larimer dinner, presented the Volunteer of the Year Award to Steve Rose. She then presented an award to John Jones, former chair. His work with DonkeyNet has made a significant difference in voter turnout.

Finally, Randy Udall did an engaging slide show on energy independence. Tracing the use of energy from Cleopatra to the present, he showed how she used 60 slaves to generate 6 horsepower, and today we use 200 horsepower in our cars using fossil fuels. The challenge of energy is that we need to cut down on our use of fossil fuels and find alternatives.

Congratulations to Adam, Nancy Tellez and all of the other planners for an evening of fun and information. Pat Waak

From Paul Thompson, Douglas County Dems Chair

Marilyn Beem, co-founder of Support the Troops, a Douglas County Democratic Party (DCDP) Community Involvement Program, has been sending supplies to men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan since December 2004. Using information from www.anysoldier.com, Marilyn secures names and addresses of soldiers, along with detailed lists of desired supplies including personal hygiene items, paperback books, snacks, and batteries.

Recently Marilyn and a team of volunteers shipped 41 USPS Priority Mail boxes overseas at a cost of $340. This makes over 100 personal shipments to date. Marilyn also volunteers her time to the Douglas County Women’s Crisis Center as well as the DC Dems Party. In recognition for all her volunteer work, the Douglas County Democratic Party awarded her the 2007 Castle Rock Volunteer of the Year Award.

A recent Support the Troops party in Castle Rock (L-R) Barb Horan, Sarah Mann, Bob Owens, Ron Clark, and Marilyn Beem

(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at www.DemNotes.com).

The Larimer Democrats held their annual President’s Day Dinner last night in Fort Collins (yes, they knew it was St. Pat’s Day last night). The theme was interesting and very appropriate — “Rocky Mountain Blue — Going Green”. Unlike the average county party dinner, which usually features speeches about the Party’s successes and opportunities generally, this dinner focused attention on the issue of environmentalism and energy, and how the Party can be an agent for change in those areas.

Governor Ritter spoke first; however, I missed his speech due to unusually heavy traffic, and a late departure from a 5th CD meeting in Colorado Springs (more on that later). I heard from the others there that the speech was unusually good, even for Gov. Ritter. There was a buzz generally in the room about how impressive of a speaker the Governor has become.

After dinner, Congressman Mark Udall spoke to an energetic crowd. He spoke about the need for Democrats to use energy independence and environmental protection as lynchpins for electoral success in the West. Congressman Udall also spoke about the need in 2008 to run campaigns based on hope, not cynicism. He received the biggest applause from this Northern Colorado audience when he encouraged the crowd to join him in his campaign for the U.S. Senate. There was a lot of electricity in the air surrounding Udall’s efforts to win the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Wayne Allard.

Congressman Udall’s brother, Randy, spoke later in the evening about resource efficiency and how people can work to protect natural resources in Colorado. Unfortunately, I missed that speech — I’ve come down with a pretty agressive stomach flu which required me making an early retirement to my hotel room. I felt bad about leaving the event early, but I can tell you that the crowd was another HUGE Larimer County crowd, which is a testament to the ongoing leadership there in Larimer County.

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Earlier in the afternoon, I stopped by a meeting of the newly-elected Fifth Congressional District Executive Committee. The 5th CD, centered in El Paso County and counties to the west, has long been the most Republican of strongholds in Colorado. However, the Democrats across the district are working well to change that tendency. The discussion at this meeting was a great start in terms of identifying short-term and long-term goals for the District Dems, as well as to identify the concrete things that the officers of the 5th CD are going to have to do in the months ahead to keep the momentum that was launched by an amazing campaign last year by Democratic nominee Jay Fawcett.

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Tomorrow, I’m headed back to Denver (health permitting) to participate in a day-long meeting with the folks who put together the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston. I’ll try to write about that, at least to the extent I can, tomorrow night or Tuesday morning.

(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at www.demnotes.com)

Last night, the Pueblo Dems held their annual St. Patrick’s Day Dinner. It was the best-attended even in recent history for the Pueblo Dems, with nearly 500 packed into the Union Depot to see our new Governor.

Governor Ritter spent the whole day in Pueblo, attending a variety of emotional events. The most emotional, of course, was his attendance at the funeral of a Puebloan who recently died in Iraq. Here’s a rundown from the Chieftain:

Among the mourners Friday was Gov. Bill Ritter. It was the fourth funeral for a Colorado serviceman that Ritter has attended since taking office.

Meeting with Joanna Harris and the soldier’s parents briefly before the service, Ritter told them, “I’m here because I believe it’s important on behalf of the state to acknowledge Blake’s service to his country.”

Gov. Ritter also signed a bill by Senator Abel Tapia into law in Pueblo yesterday, as well as touring the State Hospital in Pueblo. Recounting the day at the dinner last night, Gov. Ritter talked about how thankful the state employees at the State Hospital were to have the Governor there. “We haven’t had a Governor visit here since Roy Romer,” they told Ritter. Ritter responded, “Well, there’s only been one Governor since!”

Just before the Pueblo Dems’ dinner, Governor Ritter held a private meeting with leaders of Southern Colorado’s labor movement. I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the meeting, and I can tell you that it was a very productive, and healthy, meeting. I don’t want to go into too many details of the meeting, as I was just a guest, but both the Governor and labor leaders were frank about the problems that arose from the Governor’s veto of amendments to the Colorado Labor Peace Act, and both sides were also very productive about how to proceed in a positive manner for Colorado’s workers from here. I was proud of the professionalism I saw in that room — in a city that was built by Labor.

Then, the dinner began. It was a great celebration of Pueblo Democrats, complete with free green beer. I had the pleasure of sitting across from Don Mares, who is the new Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Mr. Mares joined the Governor on his trip to Southern Colorado. I had a great conversation with Mares, who is commited to getting to every part of the state to visit Workforce Center offices around the state as an ambassador of Governor Ritter. That’s the kind of outreach we haven’t had for the past eight years, and it is good to see the Governor’s cabinet so commited to getting to all of the parts of the state!

Governor Ritter gave a great speech about how the work we did to win elections in 2006 were now translating into solid changes and improvements for Coloradans. He pledged that his administration would continue to watch out for people “on the margins,” because if we don’t, nobody will. He left to a standing ovation…

Several wonderful Pueblo Dems were also honored with awards, including all of the out-going officers of the Party and county elected officials. It was a night of a lot of standing ovations, because there were so many very well-respected leaders of Southern Colorado being honored.

Tonight, I’m off to Fort Collins — I’ll report more from there tomorrow. (By the way, I wondered in yesterday’s post how the Governor was going to keynote speeches in Larimer and El Paso Counties tonight. Last night, he told us the answer: he’s flying between the cities. Now it makes sense!

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There’s one other event that I completely forgot to mention in yesterday’s post. We’ve had several Presidential candidates stop by Colorado lately, and tomorrow is Senator Barack Obama’s turn. He’ll be in Denver for a public event and fundraiser. Here’s the details on the public event from the Obama campaign:

Barack Obama will be in Denver on Sunday, March 18th at Sherman Street Event Center at 1770 Sherman Street. The doors open at 4 PM. There is a suggested donation of $25 dollars but the PUBLIC IS WELCOMED.

In addition, volunteers are needed to help with the event on 3 pm. If you are interested, contact Rafael Noboa at raf@coloradoforobama.net .

If you haven’t seen Senator Obama speak, I’d strongly encourage you to take some time Sunday to see him!

(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at www.demnotes.com)

Starting tonight, this weekend is a pretty busy time for county party dinners. Take your pick, and try to attend at least one…

Tonight, Governor Ritter will be in Pueblo for the Pueblo Dems’ annual St. Patrick’s Day Dinner (yeah, they know St. Pat’s day is really tomorrow). The event is being held at the Union Depot, just off of downtown, in Pueblo. Cocktails are at 5:30; Dinner is at 6:30. The cost is $25; I’m not sure if they’re sold out or not. I’ll be there, and I hear that State Chair Pat Waak will be there as well!

Tomorrow night, I’m headed up to Fort Collins for their annual fundraising dinner in Larimer County. It’s their President’s Day Dinner (and, yeah, they know that was last month, too!). Gov. Ritter will be there as well, along with Congressman Mark Udall and Randy Udall. The theme is “Rocky Mountain Blue - Going Green,” and it promises to be a great evening. Tickets are $85 - for more information, go to the Larimer Dems’ website at:
http://www.larimerdems.org/

However, that’s not all that’s going on. El Paso Dems are holding their own annual St. Patrick’s Day dinner in Colorado Springs on Saturday night. Their dinner is from 7 pm to 9:30, and ALSO features Gov. Ritter (don’t ask me how he’s going to be in both Larimer and El Paso Counties the same night — maybe the State Patrol has a hand in that). The event wil be at the Patty Jewett Golf Club, and tickets are $50 per person and $75 per couple. Find out more at the El Paso Dems’ website at:
http://www.peakdems.org/

In fact, if you’re in the Colorado Springs area tomorrow, you might want to stop by and help with the St. Patrick’s Day parade entry. Democrats will be lining up at 11:15 a.m. at Dale and Cascade; their entry is number 89. They’ll have candy for the kids and festive hats to wear to show the Irish spirit!

Finally, next weekend, if you’re in northeast Colorado, get out to support the Weld Dems or the Morgan County Dems at their annual fundraising dinners!

I’ll write more tomorrow morning about the Pueblo event tonight. See you there!

PS - I do finally have photos up from the La Plata reorg and the State Reorg Meeting / JJ Dinner. Take a look at:
http://www.demnotes.com/photos/
(I don’t have captions up, though.)

Courtesty of Leslie Robinson, ColoradoConfidential.com

It’s time to catch up with recent news about the Democratic National Convention.

First of all, are you doing anything around the week of August 25-28, 2008? The Democrats want you! About 8,000 volunteers are still needed to help with the convention. You will be asked about your talents and where you would like to be stationed. Sign up here.

Convention Committee Expands

he local Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee has recently re-organized, adding honorary co-Chairs and subcommittees. The “Who’s Who” in state Democratic politics have signed up from Governor Bill Ritter to Hon. Charlie Brown.

The subcommittees are numerous and if you are interested in becoming a volunteer, these subjects will give you an idea where help will be needed:

• Budget Subcommittee
• City Events and Community Outreach Subcommittee
• Committee Coordinating Council
• Community Planning Subcommittee
• Delegate Services Subcommittee
• Denver International Airport Subcommittee
• Fundraising Subcommittee
• Business Community Outreach Subcommittee
• Host Technology Infrastructure Subcommittee
• Hotels Subcommittee
• Greenprint Subcommittee
• Labor Relations Subcommittee
• Organizational Outreach Subcommittee
• Safety and Security Subcommittee
• Statewide and Regional Marketing and Public Relations Subcommittee
• TransportationSubcommittee
• Volunteers Subcommittee

The Host Committee can be reached at (303) 534-6200, Denver2008@gmail.com, or at www.DenverConvention2008.com.

The CDP hopes that this blog will reflect the diversity of opinions and backgrounds of the Democratic party. We invite any elected officials, county party officers, initiative officers, district committee officers, or members of the state central or executive committees to become regular contributors. If you’d like to do so, please contact me at mjw@coloradodems.org for login information.

We also invite guest posts from any Democratic activist, on just about any subject. If you’d like to voice an opinion, just email blog@coloradodems.org.

On Friday, March 23, the Colorado House will vote on House Bill 07-1069. This bill attempts to withdraw state consent to the Federal Government for the acquisition of land within a state for military training purposes by means of eminent domain. There is a lot at stake with this bill. The US army is attempting the largest single landgrab in our history. They are initially trying to expand 240,000 acres that they acquired in 1983 to over 660,000 acres (an area about the size of Rhode Island). In 1983, the army used the land condemnation process in over half the cases. The army promised a boost to the local economies. That didn’t happen. The army promised no live fire. In 2004, they said “Conditions have changed,” and commenced using live fire. Part of the expansion plans calls for ranges for their big guns. They promised returns for lost tax revenue. That didn’t happen. They said they were good stewards of the land. Eye witness accounts state that the existing range now hearkens back to the dustbowl years. The area of intent includes some of Colorado’s best kept secrets. Much of the land is owned by private ranchers, and has been in the same families for 4 or 5 generations; other segments are managed by the Comanche National Grassland under the US Forestry Service. The area includes beautiful red rock canyons, the most extensive dinosaur tracks in the world, and quarries of dinosaur bones. It contains some of the most extensive petroglyph panels in the United States. It has Native American and historical cemeteries. There are wagon tracks that are over 150 years old, Santa Fe Trail sites, and numerous homesteads. It is the most extensive area of native short prairie grasses in existence. It is one of the biggest and most abundant wildlife areas in the state, and part of one of the country’s best birding areas. In the area originally taken by the army, they do not use a quarter of it (70,000 acres), because they cannot certify it is free of historical, biological, or archeological significance. Ranchers, community leaders, environmentalists, peace advocates, and property rights advocates have joined together to stop Pinon Canyon Expansion. We think this bill will help stop the Department of Defense’s aggression into SE Colorado…Please help us by showing up and supporting HB 07-1069 on Friday Morning, March 23.

Diane Rikhof, Otero County Chair
Board Member Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition

Otero, Bent, and Crowley Counties will hold their annual JFK Dinner on Saturday, April 21, 2007 at the Otero Junior College Banquet Room. Social Hour will be at 6:00 PM. Dinner at 7:00. Dan Slater will be the Master of Ceremonies for the evening, Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff will give the keynote address. Please join SE Colorado as we keep our democratic traditions going!

Diane Rikhof, Otero County Dems Chair