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

Saturday was a big day in Pueblo, full of some pretty historic decisions in a warm Steelworkers Hall.

Many of you were there, as the Democratic State Executive Committee and Central Committee both met. (By the way, I want to thank the many people who often come up to me at events and give me comments about DemNotes — I haven’t written as much lately, but the many kind words I receive keep me going.)

The Executive Committee was first — and the one item of business on the agenda was to approve the recommendation of the Site Selection Committee that Colorado Springs be chosen as the site of the 2008 State Democratic Convention and Assembly. Along with the rest of the Site Selection Committee members that were there, I led the group on an explanation of the process that led to the decision to support El Paso County’s bid, and then discussed the high points and advantages of the Colorado Springs bid. There were several very intelligent and well-thought questions from the Executive Committee, and some debate about the decision to choose Colorado Springs over Broomfield. In the end, though, the Party overwhelmingly chose to endorse the decision of the Site Selection Committee.

So, as I’ve mentioned before, the delegates that will represent the home-state of Colorado at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August of next year will be chosen in Colorado Springs.

The Central Committee met next. The big item on the Central Committee’s agenda was to decide whether to move the Colorado Caucus to February 5, the earliest date available, or to leave the caucus in March. I have been working on this issue for over a year now. As many of you may recall, Colorado bid on the DNC’s opening of adding an early caucus state between Iowa and New Hampshire. While Colorado didn’t get selected (Nevada was chosen instead), we didn’t stop there. Since then, we’ve been working with other states in the interior West to ensure that Presidential candidates have to come out west and address issues important to the west and our electorate.

Colorado was the last piece in that puzzle. We worked hard with the Legislature to pass a bill that would move Colorado’s caucus to February 5. In the end, the Legislature gave the choice to move to February 5 to the State Parties’ Central Committees. That’s where Saturday came in. While there wasn’t much debate, it was not a unanimous issue. The voice vote was clearly in favor of moving to February 5, but the opponents of the move — for some valid reasons — were vocal in their opposition. As I mentioned, the vote carried, and we will now be holding our caucuses on February 5.

I think this is a good thing. Presidential candidates have made it clear that until Feb. 5, they are focused only on those states going on February 5 or earlier. Indeed, I received an e-mail just this morning from a fellow vice-chair in a state going just a few days after February 5 who complained that the Presidential campaigns have been clear to her that they will not bother with her state because it is after February 5.

Some have made the argument that the front-loading on February 5 raises the possibility that there will be a longer, not a shorter, race, and that the few remaining states in March and April will see intense competition. While this may be true, it really works out well for Colorado, considering the process we use. In Colorado, you aren’t bound to the delegate preference you chose at the caucus or the county assembly. So smart, well-organized candidates will recognize this and continue to compete for votes beyond February 5 in Colorado. The County Conventions will become critical to the Presidential campaigns, as will the CD and State Convention. Campaigns will have to keep an organizational presence in Colorado through May 17 if they want to compete for delegates. It truly is the best of both worlds.

Finally, I want to make a note of something that frustrated me when I read the coverage of our decision. Initially, we worked with the Legislature to just have them move the date themselves to February 5. However, many were concerned that we include both party organizations in this decision. We were told that the State GOP Chair, Dick Wadhams, opposed the move. That’s why a compromise was passed that would allow both parties to make their own decisions. Why is this important? Because here’s what Dick Wadhams said about the GOP’s decision process on this same issue just yesterday:

State Republicans will vote on whether to move their caucuses to Feb. 5 via mail-in ballots distributed to the party’s central committee as early as this week, said state party chairman Dick Wadhams.

Although some Republicans oppose the move, Wadhams said, his conversations with committee members so far have leaned toward the earlier date.

“I think this is an opportunity to renew interest in the precinct caucus, if people knew they could essentially cast a vote for who should be the Republican nominee for president,” Wadhams said. “It would increase some traffic here by Republican candidates, but I personally favor moving it to the 5th because it will give us some leverage in the process.”

Wow. Nothing has changed in the Colorado Republican Party. The ghosts of “Both Ways Bob” and Mitt Romney continue to be prominent — Dick Wadhams opposed the change before he supported it. Par for the course.

Finally, after the meetings, there was both ThinkPrecinct Training and County Party Treasurer training before many folks headed over to the Pueblo Greenway and Nature Center for a wonderful picnic sponsored by Pueblo County Dems. It was a very relaxing way to end the day of activities, and not nearly as hot there as it had been in previous years.

Last weekend I attended the 35th anniversary of the McGovern campaign, along with Senator Gary Hart and hundreds of other grassroots activists from the 1972 effort. It was nostalgic for all of us. As I looked around the room at the luncheon, I wondered at those of us who were so impassioned by an unpopular war. And here we are again. But we were here to honor our ideals and the birthday of Senator George McGovern. He turned 85 on July 19. For some of us it was the beginning of activism. For me, it was another leg in the journey. Many of us were former Peace Corps volunteers. Below is an article by David Broder, who attended the luncheon along with other reporters. Enjoy.

High campaign ideals can generate lofty aspirations

By David Broder

The Washington Post

July 18, 2007 6:00 AM

The gathering last weekend to celebrate George McGovern’s 85th birthday was more than a salute to a respected elder for his decades of work as a public official and a private citizen to end hunger.

Bob Dole, who has joined him in that cause since they were senators, spoke warmly of the friendship that crossed party lines and bridged years of disagreement on other issues.

Most of the people there were veterans of McGovern’s 1972 presidential campaign, reunited after 35 years to mark one of the great lost causes of American politics.

McGovern was swamped by Richard Nixon in that campaign, carrying only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. As he noted ruefully in his reminiscences on Saturday, he decided to take a nap while awaiting returns and left the instruction to “wake me when we know the outcome. It turned out to be a very short nap.”

That campaign has had long-term consequences. As evidenced by the turnout for this reunion, McGovern’s candidacy attracted and trained a whole generation of young people who are the heart and soul of the Democratic Party today.

Youthful rebels then but gray-haired now, they still embody forces that define the Democratic Party - an insistence on openness and reform, and a commitment to peace.

As former President Clinton, one of thousands who got his first national experience as a McGovern volunteer, put it in his message to the gathering, they are all “McGovern’s heirs.”

Gary Hart, who was McGovern’s campaign manager, made the bold statement that McGovern had “saved the Democratic Party” by forcing open a closed system and allowing outsiders - anti-Vietnam war amateurs - to come in.

At the time, it certainly didn’t look like salvation to party leaders, who saw the Democrats losing in election after election in the McGovern debacle.

The energy and talent McGovern enlisted have proved to be the party’s salvation. Without the reforms McGovern forced onto a reluctant Democratic establishment - including guaranteed representation for women and minorities at the convention - it’s impossible to imagine that this year, the leading candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination would be Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

Though no one at this mostly partisan Democratic gathering noted the point, the parallel to the McGovern experience on the Republican side can be found in the 1964 Barry Goldwater campaign.

Goldwater was a landslide loser to Lyndon Johnson, but he too brought a whole set of talented newcomers into national politics, among them Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Unsuccessful campaigns can have that long-term benefit for their party, but only if that losing candidate identifies with much larger causes.

For McGovern, the causes were peace abroad and reform of the Democratic Party at home. For Goldwater, it was conservatism in its contemporary definition - low taxes, strong defense and skepticism about government.

It was the idealism of their campaigns - and their willingness to defy the pollsters and political odds - that endeared them to their young followers. Their vindication came with the success those followers achieved.

There’s a lesson in this for those running for president today: There is more than one way to measure a successful campaign. Pragmatism - trimming positions to fit political winds - can yield short-term victories. Sticking to principle can build a legacy for a generation.

That might be a consolation for John McCain, who is the most stubbornly principled person in the Republican field.

He’s being punished now for saying what he believes about Iraq and immigration, among other things.

The examples of Goldwater and McGovern tell us time-tested veterans who take the abuse but don’t abandon their beliefs can inspire a movement of enduring importance.

Broder is a columnist for The Washington Post. His e-mail address is davidbroder@washpost.com.

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

Friday, I drove over to Montrose for what has become a pretty regular trek to their annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner. I attended my first JJ Dinner in Montrose in 2000, when I was running to be a national convention delegate from the Third CD. Since then, I’ve been to several, including one where I first donned the white hair and suit to perform as Harry Truman, co-keynoting with then-Denver Mayor Wellington Webb.

This was easily, though, the most well-attended one of them all. Each year, it seems they have to find a larger and larger venue for the dinner. This year’s was at the Montrose Pavillion, a wonderful facility with the capacity to handle the 200+ on hand to hear several great speakers. Montrose Dems, led by Chair Randy See, did a great job getting participation from surrounding counties. I sat with the Delta County Chair; Sen. Gail Schwartz and Reps. Bernie Buescher and Kathleen Curry all attended and helped boost the crowd.

The keynote speaker was Andrew Romanoff, who did a wonderful job (as usual) combining humor with policy discussion to entertain the crowd. The crowd was buzzing with one key point: it is finally okay to hold your head high as a Democrat in Montrose again. The county Dems have worked over the past several years to make progress, and the crowd made it clear that the tipping point had been reached.

The big talk in Montrose lately has been an effort by GOP Rep. Ray Rose to bring down Montrose’s only Democratic County Commissioner, Bill Patterson. Bill and I both served as county chairs together, and I know what kind of man Bill is — an honorable and decent public servant. Apparently, Montrose residents know this too — that’s why every single letter to the editor submitted to the Montrose paper has been in support of Bill. That may also be why the Montrose Republicans voted 10-2 against supporting Rose’s efforts to recall Patterson. (FYI, the two votes came from Rose and his wife!) This appears to be part of a larger coordinated effort to smear Democratic county officials across the Western Slope. I’ll write more about that in a separate post.

Ray Rose’s craven partisan attacks may turn out to be one of the best things for the Western Slope. People are coming out of the woodwork to bring common sense to the Legislature from that House district. And, it appears that they are going to have a GREAT option in 2008: Montrose City Councilwoman (and former Mayor) Noelle Hagan announced her candidacy Friday night! Indeed, the biggest and longest ovation Friday night was not given to Speaker Romanoff; instead, that honor was bestowed on Hagan when she made her announcement!

Western Slope voters deserve so much better than Ray Rose is giving them. For the longest time, Western Slope leaders — from either party — eschewed partisanship in favor of getting things done. Leaders like Bernie Buescher, Jim Isgar, and Kathleen Curry still have that work ethic. But too many of our Western Slope Republican elected leaders like Rose and Rep. Josh Penry simply do not. Bill Patterson is my friend, and he’s a member of our Democratic family. When you attack my family, you better be ready for a fight. I’ve pledged to come back to Montrose, Delta and the other counties in HD 58 as often as it takes to elect Noelle Hagan, and to send Ray Rose into an early retirement next year. Whether it makes other targeting lists (and it very well should), it has made the top of MY targeting list!

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Saturday morning, I made my way just a bit up the road to Delta for a breakfast rally for Delta Democrats. Many of the same folks (Schwartz, Buescher, Curry, and Romanoff) who had been in Montrose the night before stuck around to come to enjoy pancakes and fruit in Delta Saturday morning.

I had already felt a little guilty in that Delta may very well have been the largest county in the state that I had not been to for a Democratic Party event. After the warm welcome I received in Delta, I felt even more guilty. Delta Chair Eric Jessen and his wonderful team did a great job planning for the event and were very ready for the 100+ that showed up.

Delta is another one of those counties going through a transformation. Delta Dems shocked the state when they delivered just over 5000 votes for Bill Ritter last year, earning them extra seats on the State Central and Executive Committees for the first time in anybody’s memory. Then, just last week at the July 4th parade, their enthusiasm and excitement earned them the top prize for the nonprofit / political category, and third place overall among parade entries!

Anyway, when I apologized for taking so long to visit Delta, there was some hissing. But when I promised to come back as often as it takes to elect Noelle Hagan and help Delta Democrats, the crowd was placated and cheering. So I’ll be back.

 UPDATE: I made a HORRIBLE error and forgot to mention that Senator Gail Schwartz, a rising star in the Senate, was also in both Delta and Montrose.  Sorry!

I’m not one to forward e-mails to my lists or post them to DemNotes, but I think on this Independence Day, I will make an exception. Sadly, this doesn’t involve any warnings not to flash your brights for fear it might be seen as a gang signal, or promises of riches from Microsoft if you forward it to all of your friends. Instead, it’s just the foundation for our existence as a Nation. In any event, it wouldn’t hurt for us to re-read this once in a while:

In Congress, July 4, 1776The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws of Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the Lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right out to be FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

JOHN HANCOCK, President

Attested, CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary

New Hampshire

JOSIAH BARTLETT

WILLIAM WHIPPLE

MATTHEW THORNTON

Rhode Island

STEPHEN HOPKINS

WILLIAM ELLERY

Georgia

BUTTON GWINNETT

LYMAN HALL

GEO. WALTON

CARROLLTON

Virginia

GEORGE WYTHE

RICHARD HENRY LEE

THOMAS JEFFERSON

BENJAMIN HARRISON

THOMAS NELSON, JR.

FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE

CARTER BRAXTON

Pennsylvania

ROBERT MORRIS

BENJAMIN RUSH

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

JOHN MORTON

GEORGE CLYMER

JAMES SMITH

GEORGE TAYLOR

JAMES WILSON

GEORGE ROSS

South Carolina

EDWARD RUTLEDGE

THOMAS HEYWARD, JR.

THOMAS LYNCH, JR.

ARTHUR MIDDLETON

Massachusetts-Bay

SAMUEL ADAMS

JOHN ADAMS

ROBERT TREAT PAINE

ELBRIDGE GERRY

Connecticut

ROGER SHERMAN

SAMUEL HUNTINGTON

WILLIAM WILLIAMS

OLIVER WOLCOTT

Maryland

SAMUEL CHASE

WILLIAM PACA

THOMAS STONE

CHARLES CARROLL OF

New York

WILLIAM FLOYD

PHILIP LIVINGSTON

FRANCIS LEWIS

LEWIS MORRIS

Delaware

CAESAR RODNEY

GEORGE READ

THOMAS M’KEAN

North Carolina

WILLIAM HOOPER

JOSEPH HEWES

JOHN PENN

New Jersey

RICHARD STOCKTON

JOHN WITHERSPOON

FRANCIS HOPKINS

JOHN HART

ABRAHAM CLARK

Thank you to D.U. Law Professor Thomas Russell for forwarding this e-mail to another listserv to which I belong. It is a good reminder on this Fourth of July, 2007. I’ll be celebrating tonight after fireworks by attending Drinking Liberally here in Canon City.

Enjoy the holiday, but never forget its roots.

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

Thursday evening, I went to the Governor’s Mansion to join the Colorado Young Democrats at their event there. We were happily joined by the Governor and the First Lady, and the crowd was simply ecstatic to be there. You see, they were there about nine years ago, for a similar event sponsored by Governor Romer.

The Colorado Young Democrats are resurgent, and there’s a reason why: Colorado’s youth are increasingly supporting and volunteering for Democrats. Part of this event was about honoring and thanking those who led the CYD and Denver Young Democrats in years past. Several great leaders were honored, spanning decades of Colorado Young Democrat leadership. But we certainly have a great group of folks leading the CYD today, as well — I’m so proud of how well-organized the youth vote will be under their leadership in the year ahead.

The Governor took several questions, and I was impressed by how many really good energy-related questions that people had. The Governor was excited to point out the solar panels that were being installed, quite literally, as he spoke, on the top of the Mansion’s Carriage House.

But, to be frank, the highlight for me was just being in the Governor’s mansion. Of course, it is the People’s House, but I’d never before been given the opportunity to enter. The interior of the home is just stunning, with details in every nook and cranny at which to marvel. The art is amazing, and the antique furnishings are exquisite. My only complaint: they haven’t yet updated the room with the photos of all of the Governors and First Ladies to include Governor and Mrs. Ritter. Otherwise, it is certainly worth the time to visit if you get the chance.

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The day before, I had gone up to Denver as well, to see the Governor at the State Party’s breakfast a few blocks away from the Governor’s Mansion, at the Crawford Hill Mansion. It, too, was a beautiful venue, and we were in the back yard. Several dozen folks showed up to help the Party financially and meet the Governor. Governor Ritter has long been a strong supporter of the State Party, and Wednesday morning was no exception. We certainly appreciate his help; I don’t know where we would be without his assistance. Heck, he’d even spent the day before on the phone raising money for the National Convention in Denver!

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Speaking of the National Convention, Governor Dean made an announcement that hasn’t received much press yet today: he’s appointed a co-chair for the National Convention. Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin will co-chair the Convention in Denver next August. Here’s some of the article from an Atlanta news station:

Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, announced Monday his intention to nominate Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin as a permanent convention co-chair.

Franklin has served as Mayor of Atlanta since 2001. She was the first female mayor of Atlanta and the first African American woman to serve as mayor of a major southern city.

“It is a great time to be a Democrat,” Franklin said. “Our diverse leadership for the convention represents the core values of Democrats everywhere. As we prepare for the Democratic National Convention and to send our nominee to the White House, we will also showcase the best in our party and in America.”

Mayor Franklin is also the first woman to chair the National Conference of Democratic Mayors.

The recommendations by Dean will be presented to the Convention Rules Committee next summer. Delegates to the 2008 Convention will then vote at the opening session.

UPDATE: It would help if I read the DNC’s press releases in my inbox before I hit the “post” button. The Governor made more announcements than just the one above. Rather than screwing it up again, here is an excerpt from the release:

Governor Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, announced today his intention to nominate Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California to serve as Permanent Chair of the
2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. Dean also announced that three outstanding leaders, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, Chair of the Democratic Governors Association; Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte, President of the National Conference of State Legislatures; and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, President of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors, will be nominated as Permanent Convention Co-Chairs.

This distinguished group of strong Democratic leaders from all levels of government and all parts of the country exemplifies the vision, values and commitment to America’s future that the Democratic National Convention will showcase in Denver.

“Our Party is bringing a new kind of leadership to our country at all levels,” said Governor Dean. “We are extremely fortunate to have such a distinguished group of strong Democratic leaders chairing our Convention. I want to thank Speaker Pelosi, Governor Sebelius, state Senator Van de Putte and Mayor Franklin for their commitment to putting our presidential nominee on the path to victory for the November 2008 election.”

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Of course, you probably haven’t heard much about that due to the news that is dominating the storyline today: the President has commuted Scooter Libby’s prison sentence, allowing him to get away without any prison time and only a fine.

Wow. Kinda’ makes you nostalgic for Nixon, doesn’t it?

If you are regular reader, you will know that most of my weekends are spent revisiting the various county parties. This past weekend it was my pleasure to travel down to the valley again. Friday night a great group of Saguache County Democrats gathered at the Desert Sage Restaurant in Crestone to eat, have fun and talk about the “state” of Colorado politics.
Among the local Democrats were county commissioners Sam Pace and Linda Joseph, Sheriff Mike Norris, County Assessor Jackie Stephens, and County Clerk Melinda Myers. Rep. Rafael Gallegos came up from Antonito and spoke about the state legislative session.

We were joined by the new DNC-funded field director, Daryl Grant; Alamosa County Democratic Chair, Gigi Darricades; Rio Grande County Democratic Chair, Bennie Chacon; and Fremont County’s hardworking Dems. Judy and Ray Plumery. It was a lively group with lots of questions about delegate selection, convention and the current elected officials positions on the war in Iraq.

It was a particular treat to talk with Jennie Lopez. She has been a mainstay in the county for years and years. I also had a chance to talk with Parvin and Pat Johnson who are newer members to the community.

After spending the night with Esther and Chuck Grant (Esther is the able chair of Saguache County and Chuck is a former county commissioner), I followed Daryl over to Alamosa. We had lunch with about ten Alamosa County Dems who were planning the 4th of July float for this week. The theme is having fun in Alamosa County. One of the ideas was to focus on gardening and have huge flowers with the faces of the presidential candidates. I hope someone takes pictures.

Then I was off to La Veta for their annual Independence Day fair. I had missed the parade, but I heard that Rep. Wes McKinley was there. A lot of people came by the Democratic booth, so it was a fun place to hang out and chat. Former chair, Joan Breternitz was on hand, as was the new chair, Cindy Campbell. Huerfano County Democrats are working hard to increase attention to their efforts.

I headed back home to prepare for a few days off. (However, I will be making fundraising calls this week. That never gets a vacation). Hope you all have a great 4th of July. After all, Democracy is all about giving people access to the political process. May you have big floats, lots of flags, and most of all have fun.

Pat Waak