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

This past weekend, I went to two very different parts of the state for two very different events. Saturday night, I was the keynote speaker at Rio Grande County’s dinner and dance. Sunday morning, I woke early and headed up to Arapahoe Basin ski area for a joint BBQ hosted by the Clear Creek and Summit County Democrats. By Sunday night, I was dog-tired. Could barely last through the Sopranos…

I drove to Monte Vista in Rio Grande County to support the Rio Grande County Dems with their fundraiser. The dinner featured a wonderful selection of … baked potatoes. It was truly a celebration of the San Luis Valley’s number one crop, as we were treated to baked potatoes, chili, and all the fixins. Rio Grande County is generally a tough county for Dems, but the new chair of the Party there, Bennie Chacon, has done a great job building enthusiasm and a Party identity.

Bennie has tough shoes to fill — her predecessor is Glenn Graham, who also was a great party-building chair. Glenn is now the Mayor of Del Norte, and Saturday night he announced his candidacy for Rio Grande County Commissioner. There was a lot of excitement over the announcement, and Glenn even brought his whole family, including grandkids, to help celebrate the announcement. It will be a tough race, but it is certainly a race we can win, building a Democratic foothold there in Rio Grande County.

It was also very good to see support from the neighboring San Luis Valley counties there. There were attendees from both Saguache and Alamosa Counties present. After Glenn, I gave a keynote address that stressed the need to organize our Party from the precincts up, and further emphasizing the need to never under-estimate the Republican Party in Colorado.

After my speech, the wonderful folks in Rio Grande presented me with a framed resolution of the county party naming me an “honorary member” of the Rio Grande Dems’ Central Committee. The resolution was printed on denim paper — there was some discussion that the denim may have come from Leroy Salazar’s jeans; I still don’t know what to make of that.

I drove back home late Saturday night because I knew I had to get up early and drive up to Summit County, where an entirely different event was waiting for me…

Sunday was “closing day” at A-Basin. I’d never been to A-Basin; I don’t ski much (maybe three times in my life?) - while I’d love to ski more, I find that I’m just too busy to find time to get out on the slopes. Anyway, A-Basin is a wonderful, small, cozy ski area. There seemed to still be plenty of snow on the slopes, and several of the Democrats had already been down the slopes a couple of times by the time I arrived there. State Representative Dan Gibbs — who is the picture-perfect ski resort state rep, by the way — led a group of Democrats down on an organized run at 9 am.

I arrived about the same time as Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, who represents this area in the State Senate. Senator Fitz-Gerald gave a great speech about how much she enjoys representing the area, and also talking about her run for Congress. She described the upcoming Democratic primary in the Second CD as potentially the “most expensive primary in Colorado history”. She was well-received by the group on the deck at the lodge, where Summit County Chair Sandy Briggs was grilling chicken and steaks to go with the wonderful salads and other items.

I was really impressed by the visibility that this event generated for the Democratic Party. The slopes seemed crowded, and everybody who came down the slopes had a wonderful view of the Summit Dems’ and Clear Creek Dems’ banners hanging from the side of the lodge. In addition, on the way to the lifts, Be The Change had a booth with voter registration, bumper stickers and general information about getting involved. Looking down on the booth from the deck, it looked like they had a steady stream of interest from skiers who were enjoying the last day of skiing of the season. We even had the President of A-Basin stop by and say a few words to the Party folks on the BBQ deck.

When I talked to Sandy later that day, it was clear he really wants to push to make this a major-league event next year. With the election coming up, that seems like an ideal time for this event to really blossom into an annual “happening” that skiers can expect to be a part of closing day at A-Basin!

I hope to get pictures from the two events up soon!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 at 9:25 am and is filed under Counties, Congressional Races. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.