I’m in Burlington … Vermont!
(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at www.DemNotes.com)
Normally, when I’d write that I’m in Burlington, few would bat an eye when thinking I’m visiting an Eastern Plains town. Not tonight, though. Tonight, I’m much further east, and the plains — well, the plains aren’t too near here.
The DNC’s Executive Committee is meeting tomorrow with the Association of State Democratic Chairs’ Executive Committee here in Vermont. Since I represent the Vice Chairs from the Western part of the country on the ASDC Executive Committee, I’m here. I hear we’ll be hearing from Chairman Dean, as well as learning some of the latest polling data on how the electorate is beginning to shape for the 2008 cycle. We’ll also hear reports about how the planning for the 2008 Convention in Denver is going. I’ll report on all of that when I have some time tomorrow.
I came up a bit early this week, spending a couple of days in New York City before driving up here this afternoon. It was a great break, albeit quite muggy for the first day or so. I had a great opportunity to meet a local kid who has done very well for herself — a Canon City native named Kelly Dougherty, who is now the Executive Director of the Iraq Veterans Against the War. Kelly served honorably in Iraq, and she has been working even more honorably since returning in a hard-fought effort to bring our troops home from Iraq. Kelly came up from Philadelphia, and I must say that she is doing Colorado proud by her work to end this mess that we should never have entered in the first place.
This morning, just before leaving for Burlington, I toured the United Nations. One thing was very interesting, and struck me more than anything else. At the beginning of the tour, the tour guide asked all of us where we were from. There were folks from all across the world, including South Korea, Canada, and Spain. When he got to me, I didn’t say I was from Canon City, or even Colorado. I was from “The United States”. Nobody from the U.S. (and we were the minority in the group) said anything but that we were Americans. Of course, I’ve always considered myself very proud to be an American — but we don’t get to say it enough out loud. Here, even though my national leader may consistently embarass me as an American, I still was incredibly proud to be from The United States.
Of course, if we had a leader I was a little more proud to claim, it wouldn’t hurt…
Anyway, I’ll update you all on things from Burlington (which seems kinda’ like Boulder in a small-town setting) tomorrow (Saturday).