(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at www.DemNotes.com)
Today was another amazing day of record-breaking numbers for Colorado Democrats. We began the day today in Colorado Springs, where the El Paso County Democrats held their county assembly and convention. I knew that there was something pretty historic going on when we drove up to Palmer High School to find lines out the door to the street.
When I finally got into the school — after having to park several blocks away — I learned that folks began arriving for the 9 am convention and assembly by 7 am, and by 8 am, there were lines literally around the school. It was a mass of humanity — people packed into every corner and every room of the school. The auditorium, which holds around 1700 people was packed beyond capacity by the time they started the meeting — standing room only.
Folks were excited all over the place — there was a real electricity in the air. Senator Ken Salazar arrived first, and he fired up the crowd before they even began the meeting. State Chair Pat Waak was there, too, and very excited about the crowds at the meeting.
Then, both Presidential candidates had an opportunity to have people speak for them. The Obama campaign went first; I had been asked to address the crowd on behalf of Senator Obama. Mike Maday, the amazing organizer who had led the Obama campaign in El Paso County, introduced me.
Look, I’ve spoken to a lot of large crowds, and I’ve seen a lot of excited people. But I can rarely recall talking to a group as fired up as this group in El Paso County. At one point, I had to just stop and let the crowd chant — “O-Bama! O-Bama!†It was a very surreal moment, and thinking about the excitement in that room gives me chills still now, here at home writing about today.
After I spoke, DNC Member Ramona Martinez also spoke. She did an impressive job of firing up the crowd for Senator Clinton. After Ramona, Congressman Mark Udall had arrived, and he kept the energy and excitement going strong, moving the crowd in support of his Senate bid.
I had to leave after that to get back to my home county of Fremont County for our county assembly and convention, but I’ve heard that the vote went 69% Obama, 31% Clinton, with Senator Obama winning 269 of El Paso’s 390 delegates.
In Canon City, Fremont County Democrats faced a much more even battle. Fremont County decided to hold their meeting in the afternoon, and nearly every delegate showed up for the convention and assembly. Coming into the Fremont meeting, only about one or two delegates separated the Clinton folks and the Obama folks.
We heard from several folks, including Waak and 5th Congressional District candidate Hal Bidlack. Then, we heard from both Presidential campaigns, as well (with me again giving the presentation for Senator Obama). In the end, Senator Obama picked up a few votes, and won in Fremont County 107-95, winning 20 of Fremont’s 38 delegates.
What was so inspiring was what happened next. Normally, Fremont County simply has to take volunteers for the state convention delegates — we generally fill all of our slots, and everybody shows up, but there really isn’t much of a question. This year, though, over 70 Obama supporters wanted to serve in the 20 delegate and/or 20 alternate slots for Obama. We had another true example of democracy — every person spoke for about 10-15 seconds each and the Obama supporters all voted on delegates to represent them at the State and 5th Congressional District conventions.
It was another really wonderful day filled with standing-room only crowds and tons of new people excited about being Democrats. Things just keep getting better and better every day!
Tomorrow, we’re headed over Monarch Pass to Gunnison for the Gunnison County convention and assembly. I will, of course, write about that as soon as I can. I also took several pictures today, and I will post those as soon as I can — maybe Monday, though.