At Colorado Confidential, reporter Leslie Robinson interviews several Colorado Democratic Party members to get their commentary on the possibility of a Gore 2008 campaign:

http://www.coloradoconfidential.org/showDiary.do?diaryId=2675

Hush, Hush & on the QT: What if Al Gore….
by: Leslie Robinson
Fri Aug 31, 2007 at 09:52 AM MDT

The summer TV reruns are almost over, so one can get down to the business of campaigning for the most powerful leadership role in the world. Actor Fred Thompson announced that his official announcement is set for Sept. 6th; he will be in the Republican race for US president.

Could former vice president Al Gore be the “surprise” on the Democratic side?

To read more:

http://www.coloradoconfidential.org/showDiary.do?diaryId=2675

From the Democrats Work Email Newsletter:

Join Your Fellow Democrats to Cleanup Graffiti in Denver Next Sunday, September 9th

Join Democrats Work, Denver City Council Member Paul Lopez, and the Colorado Young Dems to paint out graffiti and cleanup the Barnum neighborhood on Denver’s West side on Sunday, September 9th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon.

All are welcome, so bring a friend! Please gather at Councilman Lopez’s office, 69 Knox Court in Denver.

You can see all the details, get directions, and RSVP here.

http://democratswork.org/index.php?
page=events&view=eventdetail&eventid=77

(You can also RSVP by sending an email to rsvp@democratswork.org.) All of the necessary equipment will be provided, so wear some clothes that can get dirty and let’s get to work!

We’ll have free t-shirts for the first 20 people to RSVP.

If you have any questions, please call Erin Egan at 303-856-8849.

CDP Chair Pat Waak
and the
Archuleta County Democratic Party
host
First Lady Jeannie Ritter
in a benefit for the
Colorado Democratic Party
in
Pagosa Springs.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

This reception will be held at Stage Under the Stars, 3700 Piedra Road (CR600). To get to the Stage Under the Stars, go west through Pagosa Springs on Hwy 160, turn north/right on Piedra Road (CR600) and go about 3.7 miles until you reach the log entrance with the Stage Under the Stars sign.

MINIMUM contribution $25 per person but larger contributions are encouraged and gladly accepted. Please sign-up online at:

http://www.coloradodems.us/events/firstladypagosa

or send your check (made out to Colorado Democratic Party) to CDP, c/o Rich Goebel, 170 Redwood Drive, Pagosa Springs, CO 81147 and include your home address, telephone number, occupation, and employer.

For further information, please contact Rich Goebel at (970) 731-1841 or RioGranGuy@aol.com or Christine Pokrandt at (303) 623-4762 or cpokrandt@coloradodems.org.

From Matt Gray, VP of the Broomfield Young Democrats:

The Broomfield County Democrats are proud to announce the new arrival of the Broomfield Young Democrats. On September 8, the Broomfield Young Democrats will be holding a kick-off celebration and fundraiser and would love for you to attend. The event will feature candidates and their representatives for congressional district 2, state house and senate, and the Broomfield City Council. The event will be held between 3pm-7pm at CB & Potts at 555 Zang Street in Broomfield . Come and support our new Young Democrats organization! $15 Young Democrats, $25 Young “at heart” Democrats. For more information, contact broomfieldyoungdems@gmail.com.

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

Yesterday afternoon, we headed up to Fort Collins for the annual Larimer Dems’ picnic. As I mentioned in my last post, it was held at a pretty unique location: the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins.

Now, I’ve been blessed to meet a lot of celebrities over the years in my party activism. But I didn’t expect yesterday to be one of those celebrity-meeting days. I was wrong. I had the great pleasure of meeting Kim Jordan on Saturday.

Who is Kim Jordan? Kim Jordan is the co-owner of New Belgium. She’s also a GREAT Democrat! New Belgium has been a wonderful supporter of the Democratic Party and progressive causes for years — the very first ASDC meeting that Pat and I attended in Little Rock, Arkansas in 2005 featured a reception sponsored by New Belgium. But its not just that Kim is a successful and progressive owner of a brewery that makes her a celebrity — its how she and her husband run New Belgium that makes her a celebrity (she certainly didn’t act like a celebrity — when I met her, she was behind the bar with her employees, pouring drinks). New Belgium is to beer and brewing what Ben & Jerry’s is to ice cream. That’s not over-stating it one bit. After a year of working for New Belgium, every employee becomes a part-owner in the company. They also get a new bike. Take a look at the history and civic responsibility exhibited by New Belgium here:
http://www.newbelgium.com/story.php

Okay. I realize this isn’t really about Kim Jordan and New Belgium. Instead, once folks made their way up to the second floor of the brewery, they were greeted with nearly 200 Larimer County Dems and a lot of fun. The event featured a celebration of the fact that two of the fastest-rising freshmen in the Colorado Legislature are Larimer Dems: Reps. Randy Fischer and John Kefalas. Both did a great job with the crowd. Also featured was the newest county commissioner in Larimer County, Randy Eubanks. Larimer Dems are hoping to win a majority on the Board of County Commissioners in 2008 — they’ve begun winning a lot of the state and regional races county-wide, and are looking to transform that success into better wins at the county level.

There’s also a real effort afoot to focus on local races — strengthening the Democratic bench. Earlier this year, I wrote about the transformation of the Fort Collins City Council into a progressive-majority council. There’s now an effort to elect more progressives and Democrats on the Loveland City Council, as well.

Of course, the highlight of the afternoon was to hear the three Democratic candidates for the Fourth Congressional District. Angie Paccione, Betsy Markey and Eric Eidsness all did a great job sounding the same message: regardless who wins the Democratic nomination, we must unite behind the nominee to ensure that we defeat Marilyn Musgrave in November of 2008. I’ve got no favorites in that race, but the Larimer Democrats who attended seemed to be the loudest for former Rep. Angie Paccione. However, it was clear that both Markey and Eidsness had good pockets of supporters present, as well.

Thursday night, I’m headed to an event in Denver sponsored by the Colorado Young Democrats with former Senator Gary Hart. If you’d like information on that event, go to the CYD website at:
http://www.coloradoyoungdems.com/

Hope to see you there!

This year was a cause for great celebration. This is the third year for the DGA to hold its meeting in Aspen, and we have advanced the number of Democratic governors from 22 to 28. It was especially exciting because Colorado was added to that number.

Participants this year included Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana, Gov. Brad Henry of Oklahoma, Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin, Gov. Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming, Gov. Chet Culver of Iowa, and of course, our own Gov. Bill Ritter. Jay Nixon, the Attorney General of Missouri, attended since he is planning to run for governor in a couple of years. Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio had to cancel out at the last moment because of the flooding in his state.

Friday evening’s reception also included two Colorado mayors: Mick Ireland newly elected in Aspen and John Hickenlooper of Denver. Mayor Hickenlooper had earlier in the day been at the Aspen Institute and in another meeting with Gov. Ritter. Mayor Ireland was a featured speaker at the renewable energy fair at Cooper’s Mall. After the policy discussions on Saturday I toured the fair with Sen. Gail Schwartz. The technology around alternative energy is growing.

But on Saturday morning, the Governors discussed “financial services” and “energy” in the morning forum. The financial services segment, chaired by Gov. Sebelius, was very much oriented toward defaults on mortgages. Barbara Fox from Freddie Mac and Denise Harrod of Compucredit did a great job of laying out the challenges. For those who have not seen it, there is an excellent article in Time magazine this week. It is of particular interest to my husband and me because Weld County has one of the largest rates of default in the state.

The second segment on energy was chaired by Gov. Ritter. A number of organizations representing the energy industry talked about the challenges for finding solutions to the energy crunch and moving toward energy independence. It was exciting to realize that Colorado has moved way ahead of other states in promoting energy alternatives. However, the Governors expressed some frustration with the pace at which Congress is moving on these issues. While there is much that each state can do, many initiatives need Federal action.

In the evening, we had the breath-taking views of Aspen from the home of Michael Goldberg. There was also an opportunity to talk with the Governors and various participants individually. Then we heard once again from Govs. Ritter and Sibelius.

This morning Gov. Howard Dean joined us all for brunch at the home of the Steve and Ellen Susman. Gov. Dean talked mostly about the 50 State Partnershp Program and all the work that is being done to support the governors and other officials by building a grassroots network.

One note that was not talked about publicly, but I did catch Saturday night. The Florida Democratic Party was chastised by the DNC Rules and ByLaws Committee for moving its primary up into January. They have 30 days to correct this or loss all their delegates to the Democratic National Convention next summer. Stay tuned for more 2008 madness.

Pat Waak

Wednesday was the day for us to skip work and head on up to Denver, where Governor Dean, Governor Ritter, and Mayor Hickenlooper helped set the stage for the “one-year” mark at the Pepsi Center. One year from now, we’ll be right in the middle of Convention Week in Denver, where Democrats are going to be gathering in fevered excitement over the prospect of nominating our next President.

We celebrated this mileston with a great rally with hundreds of supporters just outside the Pepsi Center in Denver. We were joined by the DNCC staff, led by CEO Leah Daughtry, the Denver 2008 staff, led by CEO Mike Dino, several legislators, Congressman Perlmutter, and even state party leaders from over 20 states who were in town to view the convention plans and tour potential delegation hotels.

Everybody did a great job, and the crowd was truly enthusiastic, but the day was Gov. Dean’s. His speech was an eloquent reminder of just how important it is that we elect a Democrat in 2008 to replace Bush, and further a reminder that the West will be the critical battleground in that fight in 2008. Here’s what the Rocky had to say:

“Every single one of the Republicans running for president thinks we ought to stay in Iraq, maybe for as long as 50 years,” said Dean. “Every Democrat thinks we ought not to be there.”

The gathering was held to mark the one-year countdown to the 2008 convention.

“The road to the White House goes through the west. That’s why we’re in Denver,” Dean told the crowd. “We can win these states, but we have to work hard to do so.”

And the Post:

Dean spoke before a crowd of a few hundred during a sunny gathering outside the Pepsi Center, site of the convention next Aug. 25-28. He touted recent Democratic victories in the Intermountain West and repeated that, “The road to the White House leads through the West.”

Quickly advancing his remarks to the presidential primary races, Dean asserted that “any Democrat is better than any Republican running.”

Joined by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Gov. Bill Ritter, Dean hammered at the war in Iraq, knocking the Republican presidential field for wanting to “stay the course,” and praising Democratic candidates for seeking a withdrawal.

Dean also criticized Republicans for a “culture of corruption,” alluding to ethics scandals that plagued the party and contributed to Democrats’ takeover of Congress in 2006.

It was truly a great chance to get to see so many of the people with whom I’ve spent the last two years working to make the Convention a reality. It was September of 2005 when I worked to set up a meeting with Councilwoman Elbra Wedgeworth, Mayor Hickenlooper, his staff, and myself to discuss how we could possibly make this dream a reality. Since then, that dream has become a reality, and so many wonderful people with whom we worked were there on Wednesday. I haven’t been as active over the past month as usual, for a wide variety of reasons, but seeing all of these great hard-working Democrats has put me back in the frame of mind I need to get out and get more Democrats elected!

We’re headed up to Fort Collins on Sunday for the annual Larimer Dems’ picnic. Ordinarily, this is a great event — I’ve been to at least two or three in the past. This year, though, promises to be even better — its at the New Belgium Brewery!!! I think tickets are still available online at:
http://www.larimerdems.org/

Hopefully, I’ll see you there!

Hello again from Prowers County!

As with most small communities, our annual county fair is a big deal to lots of people, which means a great chance to spread the Dem message. The trouble with it being so activity intense is that many of our county party members are already over-scheduled for the main fair days.

We decided what we needed was a booth that didn’t require staffing. Just having the presence would have been a win, especially when it turned out that the GOP folks didn’t even bother this year! But we also decided to use the news about the primaries being moved up to February to generate new interest, more participation and maybe even new members!

The side posters have photos of our Prowers County Dems at events, plus pictures of elected state Democratic officials. The main board contained a brief description of how the caucus/primary system works, plus a plastic baggie holding slips with a contact number.

There was an incident where someone wrote on Hillary’s photo, but we had covered everything with clear contact paper, so it was easily removed.

Not everyone has a county fair they can set up at, but I recommend a variation on this idea for any event where a Democratic group can take part and meet the public. I believe that a key way to get ordinary people interested in being active in politics is to show them ways that their participation and votes MATTER.

The Park County Democratic Party “adopted” a Colorado landmark this month — 14,148-foot Mt. Democrat in the northwest corner of the county.

Under the “Adopt-A-Peak” program managed through the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative (CFI), ParkCoDems are signing on to provide funds and/or host work projects to help preserve and maintain recreational uses of the 29th highest peak in Colorado.

Greg Seabloom, representing CFI, signed the adoption papers with County Democratic Party 1st Vice-Chairman Soren Frederiksen during its August Central Committee Meeting.

The preservation and restoration of trails is part of a series of projects managed through CFI and in cooperation with other groups in different areas of the state. In Park County, the group is also working with the Mosquito Range Heritage Initiative to provide a balance between private landowner liability concerns and recreational uses. Colorado HB 1049, passed in 2006, helps in that area.

Park County Democrats are planning to be a focal point for trail restoration and are seeking to help coordinate volunteer groups during the late spring through early fall months. Additionally, the Dems see an excellent opportunity for local, state and national Democratic candidates to travel to easily accessible Kite Lake as a beautiful backdrop for environmental and business compatibility statements.

Kite Lake is used as the base for Mt. Democrat restoration projects and is located just a 15-minute, 6 mile drive from Alma. The lake is located 96 miles by car from the State Capitol, an estimated 2-hour drive.

Climbing the 54 Colorado “Fourteeners” is a hundred million dollar a year business for the state. A recent study through Colorado State University estimates that guests hiking the 54 peaks spend $200 on average in contributing to local economies, while CFI estimates a half-million hikers make an attempt to climb one in a given year.

(more…)

“ARE COLORADO STUDENTS PREPARED FOR THEIR FUTURE?”

WHO: Representative Judy Solano, Metro North Chamber, The New America School

WHAT: Conversation 2007: Shaping Educational Excellence in Colorado is an opportunity for all Coloradans to help shape the future of education in our state by engaging in open dialogue. Be a part of this statewide effort to answer the following questions:

1. What do you believe should be the goals of public education?
2. What kind of educational system do we need to meet those goals?
3. What are the priorities for building that system?

This community meeting will provide policymakers with quantitative information as to what Coloradans value and expect from our state education system. We will generate information that elected officials, the Governor’s P-20 Education Coordinating Council and other stakeholders can use in deciding how to move forward with education reform. For more information, please visit www.conversation2007.org.

WHEN: Tonight, August 21, 2007   6:30pm – 8:30pmm

WHERE: Multi-Purpose Room – Southwest Side of the Building
11700 Irma Drive, Northglenn, 80233