Last night we traveled in a convoy down to Pueblo, using the DNCC flex fuel vehicles, for the second DNCC community conversation. Leah Daughtry, CEO of the DNCC, and I had a pre-meeting with Senator Abel Tapia and Pueblo Democratic County Chair Terry Hart at the Pass Key. (In all my visits to Pueblo, this was my first Pass Key visit.)

Senator Tapia talked about the history of Pueblo and its working class roots. He spoke passionately of Pueblo’s transition to a Democratic stronghold and his own efforts to “build a bench” for Democrats. I met a number of people later that evening who represent his commitment.

Then it was off to the meeting site with sausage grinders in hand. I ran into Senator John Morse, one of our newest stars from El Paso County. He introduced me to Laura Rojas, a NBC reporter. Laura, it turns out, is an old friend of my youngest brother, Don Waak. They started out working together at a veteran center in Texas. I was so pleasantly surprised. Don is on total disability from the Viet Nam War and has spent his life since dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among all veterans.

Then next event was a pre-conversation “clutch.” Some 30-40 people gathered in the coffee shop to meet Leah Daughtry. It really was a “who’s who” of Democrats in Pueblo. John Cordova, the new Pueblo County Commissioner, was there, as well as a number of local electeds and candidates.

But the main event attracted over 100 people plus media. Dan Slater, first vice chair of the CDP, was in attendance, as was Alex Netherton, chair of Bent County Democrats and Gigi Darricades, chair of Alamosa County Democrats. Leah Daughtry and Governor Bill Ritter talked about the opportunities associated with the convention coming to Denver and to the West in general. They then fielded audience questions about volunteering, housing, and the logistics. I had a brief opportunity to respond to a question about the delegate selection process. (General instructions are available on the CDP website).

It was great to see a number of people from events that I attended over the past week. In addition to Alex Netherton, I saw four people who had been at the multi-county meeting earlier this week. Joan Breternitz and Jeanine Kenyon were there with Annajo Sanchez, the SE Field Director, from Huerfano County. Pete Lee, our new SD12 candidate, was down from El Paso County.

We are making plans for additional community conversations before the end of the calendar year. Check out the website for times and dates. Sky Gallegos, Deputy DNCC CEO for Intergovernmental Affairs, and I will be in Steamboat Springs and Fort Collins in the weeks ahead. We will make sure those dates and places are posted soon.

Pat Waak

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2007 at 11:16 am and is filed under CDP, Counties, DNC. 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.