Colorado Springs - Opening a Dialogue on Faith Voters
I spent a fascinating day in Colorado Springs this week. Part of my reasons for visiting was to get a fresh perspective on how we might expand our outreach in this part of the state. Also it was a long overdue visit with Dick Celeste, former Governor of Ohio and Ambassador to India, now President of Colorado College.
I began by having an informal lunch with the Pikes Peak Inter-Religious Clergy Association. Some twelve members of the clergy, from all faiths, characterized as progressive, spent an hour and a half talking about how we might open up dialogue with faith-based voters. They believe that there are issues that provide crossover between parties, especially if there is a good candidate representing their views on the issues. The two crossover issues are the war in Iraq and the environment. It was a stimulating discussion and will provide part of the agenda for the Faith and Politics meeting we have scheduled for Saturday, May 19 from 1-3pm at the state party headquarters. (We know this will not be terribly convenient for those who celebrate Sabbat on Saturday. However, we have some people coming from out of town. The next meeting will be on a week night.)
After this meeting and my meeting with President Celeste, where we talked about the same issue of expanding dialogue, I spent an hour with John Morris. John is the able chair of the El Paso County Democrats. We continued the dialogue discussion and how it might help improve performance in the county if we can recongregate around an issue and the candidates who are good on the issue. We also discussed training in leadership development.
El Paso County is important to the overall success of a statewide strategy. So we need to continue to work with party leadership to expand their outreach.
Pat Waak